


Just One Week

by artemisaro



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-09-21 02:04:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9527033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artemisaro/pseuds/artemisaro
Summary: Nico may or may not have told his father he was gay, yelled that he was going to bring home a boy whether his father liked it or not, and slammed down the phone. He doesn't have a boyfriend, but he does have a crush on Will Solace... who agrees to be his boyfriend for a week to piss of his dad.





	1. Chapter 1

The last thing Nico di Angelo expected to spend his weekend doing was looking for someone who would agree to fake date him. Of course he’d known he’d need someone to agree to go out with him the minute he promised his father he’d be bringing a boy home, but… it hadn’t actually hit him that he’d either have to ask someone out or ask someone to pretend they were dating him. Neither thought was particularly pleasant, but the asking someone to pretend to date him seemed… more appropriate, if Nico was being honest.

His father had gotten upset with Nico upon receiving his letter a few months ago about the possibility of being gay. It wasn’t just a possibility – he’d known since before he was ten years old, but being fifteen years old at a boarding school gave him the courage to actually tell his family. He hadn’t expected the angry phone call from his father demanding that he apologize for pulling such an awful prank on the people who loved and cared for him. The people who loved and cared for him… ha, that was a joke. If they really cared for him they would have tried to accept him.

The difficulty arose in that Nico had yelled that he had a boyfriend and was bringing him home for Thanksgiving whether Hades and Persephone liked it or not. He’d slammed the phone down before receiving a response, but he’d subjected himself to showing up with a boyfriend. Where the hell was he supposed to find a boyfriend? Thanksgiving was in two months…

“Calm down,” Reyna interrupted, cutting off Nico’s panicked tirade. She’d been gracious enough to listen for the last half hour, but her patience wasn’t exactly abundant, despite how much she and Nico told each other. There was only so much whining and ranting she could tolerate, which was part of what made Nico like her so much.

“I can’t calm down-”

“Go to the GSA or something, I’m sure there’ll be someone there who’ll agree to date you,” Reyna suggested, which received only a scoff from Nico.

“I don’t even know anyone there!” he protested. “I’m not subjecting a total stranger to my fucked up family.”

“Why not ask Percy?” Nico’s expression was all that he needed to shut Reyna down on that one. She’d been the first to know about his horrible crush on Percy, and she’d also been trying to get the two of them together for years, even though Nico had gotten over it, and as far as the two of them knew, Percy was straighter than a rod.

“Jason then?”

“He’d literally murder my family. Not that I’d complain… but-”

“Ooooooookay….” Reyna leaned back in her chair, obviously trying to pay attention but not exactly succeeding. She took her long, black braid in one hand and began to casually weave and unweave it. She was bored.

“I’ve gone through literally every one of our friends and there’s no way I would go out with any of them, even to get back at my family.” Nico slid to the floor, pouting in a way that made him look much, much younger.

“What about Will Solace?”

Nico almost choked when he heard that name. He hadn’t expected anyone to notice how much he stared at the taller, sunshine-y boy who shared Nico’s science class. He’d tried to talk to him a few times, but he’d chickened out just before he ended up doing it.

“I… I couldn’t do that, I…” Nico stammered, doing his best to hide the way his cheeks flushed bright red. He wasn’t supposed to have crushes, but here he was, falling for a boy who was far out of his league.

“Just ask him out, for god’s sake!” Reyna pushed herself out of her seat and pushed it in before throwing her bag over her shoulder and casting a look that seemed to penetrate Nico’s soul. “It’s just a fake date, this time.” Nico didn’t like the way she said _this time._

\---

Will Solace sat across from Nico in their science class – anatomy and biology. He was always the first one with the answer, and half the time Nico thought he’d probably memorized the textbook before taking the class. He was so passionate about everything in the way that Nico just… wasn’t. It was that, and his smile, and his freckles, and the way his hair caught the light drifting in through the room like a golden halo…

_What the hell are you doing?_ Nico demanded to himself, searching for an answer that probably didn’t exist. _You’ve never even spoken to him, why the hell would he give you the time of day?_

“-working in pairs for next week’s progress,” the teacher was announcing, droning on in a way that was just… not interesting to Nico. This, however, was interesting. And terrifying. He was always the person people complained about in groups because he didn’t do much talking and just did as much work as he could do – which wasn’t usually as much as everyone else could do.

“-I have chosen the pairs for this project.” The teacher continued, and suddenly Nico became very aware of how much of a mistake he was making hoping that the teacher would pair them together. Several tense moments passes as the teacher read off names, until finally, “Nico and Benjamin,” and “Will and Elaine.” They weren’t together. That was fine, it was totally fine, Nico was calm... he’d just lost his chance to talk to Will Solace. With a mix of relief and resignation, Nico turned to look for Ethan until a sharp movement from Will’s direction caught his eye.

“Excuse me miss, but both Ethan and Elaine are absent, and given the nature of the project,” Will turned to smile at Nico. (Dear god, _at_ Nico! As in… he was directly smiling _at Nico!_ ). “I was wondering if Nico and I could work together and get a head start.” Nico was so shocked he almost didn’t hear the teacher’s response, a surprise but pleased ‘yes.’

Of course working together would be the logical thing… they were the only ones without a current partner, and since the project was due so soon…

“I have a few ideas, but I was thinking we could just write things down until we find something we like.”

It took Nico a few seconds to realize that Will was talking to him. Will was talking. _To_ Nico.

“Huh?” Great. Nico must be making himself look like an idiot. Exactly the impression he didn’t want to make.

Will repeated himself, producing a sheet of paper and two pencils.

“Alright,” Nico agreed, shrugging off his aviator jacket, rolling up his sleeve, and grabbing a pencil. The project was about medicine, and well… Nico understood the value of it, he just didn’t understand any of the concepts. Somehow though, the ideas seemed to come more easily, especially when he saw Will’s scrawling handwriting – already looking like Doctor’s handwriting – all of the page in front of him.

“You’ve done a project like this before, haven’t you?” Nico questioned once they had finished up about two pieces of paper full of nothing but ideas. Will’s were all incredibly detailed and fleshed out in comparison to Nico’s.

“No, but I’ve wanted to.”

“You’ve… _wanted_ to do a school project?”

“Yes! I mean… not necessarily for school, but it was a project I wanted to pursue!”

“Maybe we should just use your ideas then,” Nico suggested, deftly switching the topic before he messed things up too badly.

“No, definitely not,” Will shook his head, scanning through Nico’s idea. “The only problem with curing cancer is that it hasn’t been done yet, and we’re high school students…” Will murmured in a voice that clearly said “I think your ideas are _good,_ but they’re childish and unfeasible. No wait, they downright suck.”

“You know a lot about poisons and healthy use of poisonous items,” Will commented, eyes widening in delight. Something seemed to almost begin glowing inside him, lighting him up from the inside out.

“You have an idea?” Nico ventured, unsure how to feel about that possibility. Will nodded eagerly.

“How poison can add to current anesthetics and pain-killers to maximize the efficiency and low cost of medicines while also using resources that haven't been utilized,” Will explained, the smile on his face enough to get Nico fascinated in the subject, even though he may not have understood exactly how they were going to make the project work.

“Sounds good to me,” Nico murmured, hiding the tremor of excitement and anxiety in his throat.

“Great! I’ll text you and we can make plans.”

And that was how Nico di Angelo got Will Solace’s phone number.

\---

“Hey, Neeks,” a friendly voice greeted behind Nico while ruffling his hair. At one point, Nico would have flipped out and run away, but now he just ducked away from it and stuck his tongue out at the older boy.

“Hey Percy.” Nico replied, glancing up at Percy, who was much taller than Nico probably would ever be. He hated being short, but then again, it did occasionally afford him some advantages.

“Annabeth told me about your dilemma,” Percy said suddenly, though Nico wasn’t as shocked as he should have been.

“And I suppose Reyna told her.” It wasn’t all that surprising. Reyna and Annabeth were surprisingly close.

“I wouldn’t have minded offering if it meant your dad would leave you alone.”

“I’m sorry.” Nico shook his head abruptly. “I think it would be too award for me.” He was just about to turn to leave when he felt Percy’s hand fall on his shoulder.

“A group of us are playing Capture the Flag later,” Percy explained, flashing Nico an inviting smile. “Would you like to come?”

Nico found himself nodding before he even had reason to do so. He needed something to distract him from his constant thoughts about his father, and about Will. Two very different sets of thought with two very different consequences if he chose one over the other.

“And Nico? If you ever need to talk I’m here. You deserve better than your father.” Percy added, clapping Nico on the back before he left with an, “I’ll talk to you all more in depth later.”

\---

The science project was going surprisingly well. Will had done most of it, but he also made Nico feel like he was part of the reason they were moving forwards, even if he really weren’t someone who was doing much. It made Nico feel much better about himself.

Will was sociable and easy to be around, everything Nico wasn’t. It was one of the things that was so untouchable and astounding in the grand scheme of things – Nico didn’t understand how simple Will made everything look. Just like breathing. And the way he talked to Nico, like he mattered, like he wasn’t just part of another grade or another statistic.

“So this would go under…” Nico held out a newspaper clipping about a rare strain of poison that was only found in the sand of certain areas.

“That would go under…” Will considered for a second, the tip of his pencil resting on his lips as he thought. Nico thought it was cute. “I’d put that under poisonous innovations for now.”

Nico reached across the table to set it down, right as Will reached for the tape on the other side of the table. Suddenly their hands were touching and Nico was aware of every millisecond of contact between them. Part of him screamed to let go, but the other part begged him to keep his hand there longer.

“I have to go,” Will murmured, and for a second Nico would have sworn he saw a blush on Will’s cheek.

“Bye…” Nico murmured, left alone where they had been working at the table in the library.

\---

“How’d it go, talking to Science Boy,”

Nico blushed, his hands over his face as though he were trying to hide that small fact.

“He likes you!” Reyna concluded triumphantly, though how she got that from just a blush, Nico would never know. Instead, Nico just shook his head and slammed his book shut. He’d been trying to read for class, but it was getting away from him and he honestly didn’t know where to start. Reyna certainly wasn’t helping, even though she was technically supposed to be tutoring him.

“It doesn’t matter. I barely know him and this English assignment is due tomorrow, so I’d rather get it done, thanks.” Nico knew he was being testy, but he couldn’t help it. He couldn’t really focus on the English assignment because his stupid mind kept replaying the image of Will blushing at the touch of their hands, and the way his golden hair seemed woven with light whenever the sun hit it at the right angle. It was easier to blame his lack of studying on Reyna than to admit the truth of the situation.

“I’m not the best when it comes to relationship advice, but you need a boyfriend and he obviously likes you as much as you like him, so why not go for it?”

Nico squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn’t believe he had to actually go over this with Reyna. “He’s cool. I’m not. He’s good at school, he has plenty of friends, people actually like him, he’s gorgeous, he’s nice to everyone, and he’s probably incredibly smart… should I go on?”

Reyna had fallen silent, staring at Nico in disbelief. “I can’t believe you,” she muttered quietly before picking up her bag and leaving Nico alone. It hadn’t been the reaction Nico had expected, but it was probably the one he deserved.

\---

Nico didn’t write poetry. He hated poetry, but there was something about Will that made Nico want to become one of those pretentious assholes who write poetry about their love lives and make everything so much more dramatic than it has to be.

Nico hadn’t seen Will since the first meet up they’d had to work on the project, and Nico honestly didn’t know how he felt about that. There were things he wanted to talk about, but there really wasn’t much to say at all. Will was a relative stranger, and Nico only knew things about him because he was creepy and watched him sometimes when he had nothing better to do.

“Mr. di Angelo, I would prefer if you paid attention in class, thank you very much.” The reproachful voice of Nico’s algebra teacher reached him way in the back of the classroom.

“Excuse me, sir?” Nico questioned, afraid he’d missed something important. He knew the teacher would likely take offense to his tone, describing it as ‘impertinent’ or some other fancy word, but as usual, it wasn’t necessarily Nico’s intention.

“If you had been paying attention, you would be able to tell me exactly how to multiply two matrices together and when that is impossible. However, I know you were not paying attention, but if you’d like to give it a try I’m sure the class is all ears.”

“N-no… sorry, Sir,” Nico muttered. Hazel turned around from her seat in front of him to give him an apologetic look. She turned around for a second, her hand flying across a piece of paper before handing it to Nico.

_Sorry I didn’t say anything. I could’ve gotten you off the hook had it been any other teacher. ☹_

The note didn’t really help the situation or the shame Nico felt burning in his cheeks, but knowing Hazel would have supported him was really, really helpful.

_Thanks,_ Nico scrawled back, passing the slip of paper surreptitiously to Hazel.

The rest of the period passed by fairly uneventfully, but Nico found he couldn’t keep his mind on his schoolwork. He wanted to talk to Hazel after class about Hades, but he didn’t know how to broach the topic. Hades had fathered both of them, but he’d been far more of a father to Hazel in her younger years than he’d ever been to Nico. It was like Hades was a completely different man when dealing with Hazel. At first Nico had resented it, but now he was just glad that he had someone else to talk to about this when it seemed so prevalent.

Finally the bell rang and Nico followed Hazel outside after class.

“Hey, can we talk?”

“Sure, what’s up?” Hazel’s bright blue skirt flounced as she turned around to greet Nico.

“I may or may not have come out to Dad.” Nico could already feel his face heating up, but Hazel was smiling.

“That’s wonderful! How did he take it?” Evidently, Nico’s expression was enough to answer that question without vocalizing the worst parts. Hazel often forgot that Hades was far more patient with her than he ever was with Nico. He probably only kept Nico around because he felt guilty that his wife and daughter had both died, and Nico was an unwanted object that couldn’t be thrown away because of the memories attached to him. Hazel was luckier – when her mother died, Hades hadn’t even really known, and Hazel was sent to the boarding school year round. That seemed preferable to Nico than having Hades as a father.

“I know you don’t want to hear this, but you’ve got to give him a chance. I promise you, he’s not all that bad, I’m sure he’s just afraid to love you but if you try…”

“No.” Perhaps the word came out harsher than Nico meant, but he continued anyway. The harshness worked to illustrate his point. “I’m sick of trying to prove myself to him, Hazel! I work day after day to prove that I might be worth something, and he still doesn’t give a shit. I try to make him proud, but the most that ever does is makes him slightly less irritable. I can’t keep trying to make him like me, Hazel, because he never will. I won’t keep pushing myself and trying to change myself just so my father will love me. That isn’t the kind of life I want to live. I want him gone, and out of my life, and I wish he’d spend more time with you, because you deserve the side of him that loves you. You deserve a real parent, but Hades can’t be that for me. He just can’t. Okay, Hazel?” The outburst was completely unintentional, but it seemed to catch Hazel off guard. Part of Nico wanted to run away, but he was tired of running away. Wasn’t that what he had just articulated?

“Okay,” Hazel replied softly, obviously being cautious about what she said. They were so close in age that sometimes Hazel acted as the younger sister, and sometimes as the older, but right now she didn’t seem to know which path to take.

“I’m going to bring a boy home,” Nico announced into the awkward silence that had fallen between the two of them.

“That’s wonderful!” Hazel’s face lit up, likely at just the idea of something else to talk about that wouldn’t start World War III. “Who?”

“I don’t know yet,” Nico admitted, offering a nervous smile. “Part of me wants to ask Will Solace, but he’s way out of my league,” he added ruefully.

“You never know until you try!”

Just once, Nico wanted someone to be honest and say, “Yeah, he probably is. So what are you going to do about it?” Normally that person would be Reyna, but he’d somehow upset her to the point she probably wasn’t going to want to talk to him for the next couple days, or at least until he apologized. There was only one small problem with that: Nico had no idea what he was supposed to apologize for.

“Sooooo… do you know if Will likes you?”

Nico’s first response was a sharp laugh. “He could never like me. I wish, but life’s not a fairy tale, Hazel. Boys who aren’t heroes don’t get the girl. Or the boy. But in modern media, the boy never gets the boy.”

“Alright.” At this point, Hazel had adopted full older-sister voice. “You’re always pessimistic, but this is incredibly, even for you. Care to tell me what’s up?”

Nico stayed silent for a moment, almost feeling like a child being berated by a well-meaning parent. “I told Dad I was bringing a boy to Thanksgiving Dinner. I don’t have a boy.”

Hazel simply smiled, one of those smiles that could either mean something really really good, or something really really bad. In this situation, Nico couldn’t tell what the situation would be.

“I’ve got an idea.”

\---

“You’re gay, right?” It was bold and out front, and probably would have sounded smooth if Nico hadn’t said it so bluntly. Or if Nico had waited to say it until Will was more than two steps into the room, about to take his coat off.

“Bi, but yeah, I guess,” Will shrugged, strangely unperturbed by the question.

“Great. I’m gay and I need help making homophobes angry.” Nico hadn’t meant to come out to his crush in such a tactless way, but he supposed if it worked it worked. Hazel probably hadn’t meant for Nico to be so entirely blunt about it either.

“Count me in!” Will grinned, his freckles moving with his skin, almost like stars as they drifted across the night sky so slowly they aren’t noticed by anybody. At least until they aren’t where they once were.

“You don’t even know what I’m going to ask you to do.”

“I don’t care. Pissing off homophobes is my one goal in life.”

“So you’d do _anything?”_

It was probably then that Will realized he probably should have been choosing his words more carefully. Nico’s proposal might not be favorable, after all… Nico could see the gears turning in Will’s head.

“Well, not anything, but try me!”

Steeling himself, Nico found the right words. “I told my Dad I’m gay and we had a fight and… I may or may not have told him I’m taking a boy home on Thanksgiving, but I don’t have a boyfriend. If you’re free over Thanksgiving, I guess, if you wouldn’t mind… it would piss my Dad off if I actually showed up with a boyfriend, and none of my friends will go. I mean… if you pretend to be my boyfriend you get a free Thanksgiving meal and probably one day after as well. I guess you could ask for a few favors in order to be reimbursed, and it wouldn’t be anything but _pretend,_ you don’t have to really be my boyfriend…”

“You ramble when you get nervous,” Will commented, a smile tilting up the corner of his lips. “You don’t need to be. I don’t have anything to do on Thanksgiving, so I’ll be more than happy to go and piss your Dad off.” Will fell silent for several long moments before he seemed to gather up the courage to say something. “We’ll need to set boundaries.”

“Of course!” Nico agreed, too astounded by the fact that Will had agreed to actually care much. “Only what you’re comfortable with, and nothing outside of view of my family, especially if it makes you uncomfortable. They just need to believe we’re dating and everything will work out.”

“Sounds good to me.”


	2. Chapter 2

Thanksgiving came much too quickly. It seemed as if that last month before break had been completely full, no semblance of a break anywhere within the schedule. It also meant that Nico’s encounter with Hades was coming up soon, and not only did Nico and Will need to get their science project to its halfway point, they also needed to arrange travel. Easier said than done.

It was the last couple of days before break, and there was no plan yet. It was lucky that Hades lived in the same state, so there was no extensive travel to worry about, but at the same time Will didn’t seem to own a car, even though he was already sixteen. Nico, on the other hand, had an old, cheap, beaten up car already, despite only being 15. He drove it places occasionally, pretending he had every right to be behind the wheel without an adult.

The point was that Nico was going to have to drive Will all the way to the place he was supposed to call home. The first couple days before break were the most chaotic Nico had ever lived through, and that statement was only somewhat hyperbolic.

“What am I going to do if I get caught?” Nico looked up at the group of people near him, neatly interrupting the three different side conversations going on without him.

“Simple! Don’t get caught!” Leo replied with a shrug, turning back to Hazel before Nico could respond.

“You’re shorter than a fifth grader, you’re definitely going to get caught,” Jason teased affectionately, to which Nico rolled his eyes and huffed over-dramatically.

“None of you are helping,” Nico complained, shifting his position on his chair. He glanced between the others, waiting for someone to have an idea. Naturally, it was Annabeth.

“We’ll get a map and create a route for you to take that avoids most major police areas,” she chimed in from where she was sitting in the corner, her arm linked with Percy’s. Sometimes Nico envied how happy they seemed to be together, but most of the time he just tried to be happy for them. They still got the brunt of most of the PDA jokes, even though they were fairly toned-down among other people.

“I like that idea,” Nico murmured in relief. “Thanks, Annabeth.” His phone beeped suddenly with an incoming reminder of his meeting with Will. They were almost at a good stopping point for the project, but neither of them seemed to want to take any chances. “I’ll see you all after school.” Nico received a chorus of farewells from behind him.

\---

“I was worried you weren’t going to show,” Will admitted the moment Nico walked through the door to the science lab.

“I didn’t realize what time it was, I-”

“Nico?” For the first time, Nico registered a little bit of worry in Will’s voice, though he couldn’t tell why.

“Yeah?”

“How bad is your dad really?” Oh. That was what was making Will so nervous. It occurred to Nico that he hadn’t really prepped Will for what they were going to have to face in the next day or so.

“He’s not going to physically hurt you, if that’s what your worried about. Besides, if he’s going to go after anyone it’s going to be me. He won’t say anything too bad, I promise.” Nico was well aware that it wasn’t really very reassuring, but he had nothing better to offer Will at this point.

“I don’t just care about myself. If he’s going to ‘go after you’, I don’t want to inflict that on you.”

“He’d do it even if you weren’t there. I think he’ll be less open about his disapproval if you’re there.” Nico knew it sounded bad the moment he said it, but Will didn’t seem offended by it. He wasn’t just using Will as a buffer between Hades and himself, but it could very easily come across that way. If Will noticed, he didn’t say anything.

“Let’s work on the project,” Will muttered. His face was turned away form Nico, impossible to read. Not that it would have done Nico much good to try and decipher what Will was feeling.

“If you don’t want to go, I completely understand. I can give you a ride to your mom’s…”

“I’m going.” Will’s voice was firm as he reached across the table to grab Nico’s arm and meet his gaze. “I won’t leave you alone.”

Nico nodded gratefully, but he was more preoccupied with the question of what Will had meant by that. Was it because Will had been through a similar situation? Was it because he _liked_ Nico? Or was it just because Will made friends extremely easily and became fiercely loyal to each one? Even if it were the last one, Nico wasn’t going to complain. He’d started freshman year completely alone, still affected by the death of his mother and sister years before. The friends he’d found had saved his life countless times, and had become everything Nico wished he’d had with his family.

Nico didn’t underestimate how powerful friends were, but there was something about Will Solace that filled Nico with longing for something _more._ The idea of just being friends with him was sad in a way that Nico couldn’t quite explain.

“Do you want to ditch this place and go grab ice cream?” Several moments of silence had passed before Will spoke, but his words brought a welcome distraction. Ice cream sounded perfect, and if Nico was actually talking to Will it meant he wasn’t over-analyzing potential interactions with him.

“I’d love to.”

\---

Not twenty minutes later, Nico and Will found themselves sitting side by side at the high table of the local ice cream parlor. Nico had been there once before, but had never had their ice cream. Will was desperate to show him exactly how much he had been missing out on.

Before they even sat down, Nico and Will must have tried about fifteen different flavors of ice cream before the cashier politely implied that they should just _choose one_ and be on their way. Nico settled on the mint chocolate chip.

One bite in, and Nico agreed with Will on the fact that he’d been missing out by not having had any before. That surprised Nico, especially since he wasn’t a huge ice cream fan. This, however was good. Will sat across from Nico with a waffle cone stuffed full of lemon ice cream that was about as bright as Will’s smile usually was. Nico was tempted to point out the fact out loud, but caught himself when he remembered that they weren’t actually dating. Any comments like that wouldn’t be well received, no matter how genuine they were at heart.

“Your ice cream’s dripping!” Will pointed out, seeming almost comically shocked that Nico would actually let his ice cream drip.

“They’re to cold when they’re completely frozen,” Nico argued, finally taking a second bite of his cone.

“The brain freeze is part of the experience though!”

“So are sticky fingers and ice cream going everywhere.”

Will shook his head in response, adopting a comically scandalized expression. “How dare you imply that ice cream tainted by drippings is normal!”

Nico had no response, but found himself laughing hard enough that his sides started to ache. They sat like that for a solid ten minutes. Together, laughing hard enough that it was difficult to breathe, with nothing to bother them but the occasional glare from the cashier.

“Want another scoop?” Will questioned when Nico finally finished up his first. As unpleasant as the brain freeze Nico was currently suffering with was, he had to admit that it added to the authenticity of the experience. Will didn’t wait for an answer before his attention was caught by something outside of the west-facing window.

“The sun is begin to set,” Will informed Nico with invigorated awe. He seemed moved in a way Nico never experienced, but wished he could. Will was captivated by the way the sun glanced off the mountain peaks and refracted off of the shiny metal cars before it filtered through the dusty windows of the ice-cream parlor.

The last time the two saw each other before leaving for Nico’s home was right then and there – Will admiring the sunset, and Nico admiring something far more special and beautiful – Will’s unfiltered wonder and joy.

\---

“Remember, if you get caught here, you’re a dead man.” For perhaps the third time, Annabeth was going over the possible routes Nico could take with the lowest likelihood of getting caught and ticketed. And probably of having to wait even longer for his actual license.

“That’s a risky area though. If I took this route it’s easier to avoid that spot,” Nico argued, which pulled Annabeth into a deeper train of thought. Percy stood in the background trying to work it out as well. He wasn’t going to actually be involved in any of the navigation or driving, but if something went wrong he was going to be the emergency guy. He was either going to bail Nico out of jail or come and meet them somewhere if Nico began to feel like driving wasn’t safe. Nico promised that wasn’t going to happen, but both Annabeth and Percy insisted on the extra measure anyway.

“Alright, let’s try this again,” said Annabeth. She launched into a series of directions that were undoubtedly the route the least likely to get Nico caught for underage driving.

“Good luck!”

\---

The day they were to leave had finally arrived. Annabeth had written out all of the instructions for Nico, but her handwriting was difficult to read and Nico wasn’t all that great at reading due to the dyslexia that quite a few of his friends shared.

“Are you ready?” Nico questioned Will the moment he saw him. A smile spread across his face when Will nodded yes, despite everything they were probably heading into.

“Did you make a travel playlist?” Will asked while throwing his bag into Nico’s trunk. The school would notice that Nico’s car wasn’t parked outside the school anymore, but there were solid enough explanations for that. Nico shook his head ‘no,’ and Will smiled widely. “Perfect!” he continued, obviously very excited. “I made the most gay playlist I can find. Might get us in the right mood to piss off your dad!”

“Is it going to keep us amused for almost seven hours without pissing us off?”

Will ignored Nico’s question and busied himself with hooking the aux cord into his phone and figuring out how to actually get the car’s sound system to work. When he finally succeeded, Nico had already driven far enough that the campus was out of sight.

The area around was gorgeous, especially given the fact that so little of it could be seen from the school’s property. They had an entire world in front of them that they could be using, but it went empty and abandoned anyway.

The music came on much too loud, but with a little bit of volume adjustment it fell into the perfect balance of productive background noise. Nico drove in silence for a little while, but conversation between Nico and Will came far more easily than either of them had expected.

“What’s your dad like?” Normally Nico wasn’t one to ask family questions, but the further he drove the more nervous he became about this visit.

“He’s cool.” Will smiled. “He’s been married a couple times, had kids with all of them, but he’s stayed with Mom the longest. Plus it’s easier to be bi when your dad’s bi too,” he explained, and for several long moments Nico allowed himself to imagine they were going to go meet Will’s dad instead of his own.

“He sounds cool. How about your mom?” Nico fiddled around with the air conditioner as best he could while still looking at the road and trying to hold a conversation together.

“She’s… well, I love her a lot but she’s not nearly as exciting as my father. I don’t know that there’s much to say about her. It struck Nico as sad that had he been asked a few months before his mother died, his response would have been about the same as Will’s had been. Yet… there were so many extraordinary things he could say about his mother, even if she hadn’t been the best of the best. He hoped Will took advantage of the little things that happen for the better in the way that Nico hadn’t.

“I’d like to meet both of your parents one day,” Nico decided, his eyes fixed on the road as he concentrated. “Maybe one day we can go out and see them, if you ever need someone to date you in front of them” Nico joked, though he would have been more than happy to pretend to be dating in front of anyone as long as it was Will who was pretending as well.

“I hope this situation doesn’t repeat itself, but if it’s necessary, I wouldn’t mind pretending to date you in front of other people.” It was the closest Will had ever gotten to a flat out compliment, and Nico felt something in him leave the ground a soar for a few moments.

\---

They had been in the car for about an hour, and Nico hadn’t felt this happy in a very long time. He’d spent time laughing and joking with his friends at school, of course, but he’d never felt as free as he did on the ride to his Dad’s house.

“Want to stop for lunch?” Will questioned, glancing at a sign advertising a nearby McDonalds. Nico smiled when he saw, chuckling slightly under his breath.

“What’s so funny?”

“I used to go to McDonald’s almost every day when I was younger. I loved their happy meals.”

“I hated McDonalds,” Will admitted bluntly, to which Nico responded with a snort. “It’s alright now, I guess,” he added, and Nico thought he saw a faint tinge of pink coloring Will’s cheeks.

“Don’t worry, you won’t have to eat it,” Nico reassured Will, “I packed something better. See back there, behind my seat? There should be two lunch bags. I made some quiche and packed it.”

Nico had suffered a lot from anxiety when he was younger, and he had discovered that baking helped a lot when he needed to get something out of his system. Plus it was just a good way to make friends.

“So you didn’t make a playlist but you packed us a three course meal?” Will teased as he rummaged through the lunches Nico had packed.

“It’s not a three course meal! It’s just-” Will’s look cut him off.

“It’s got small mini pastries, a quiche, and a slice of pie. That’s a three course meal to me, Nico.”

“Shut up,” Nico muttered, feeling his face flush bright red. “I just hope you enjoy it.”

Will seemed to enjoy it. At least, as far as Nico could tell, because he didn’t say anything the entire time he was eating. The nervous part of Nico was half afraid that the silence meant that Will hated it, but he didn’t want to say anything to offend Nico. That was the problem with nice people - they never told you when they’re not happy with something you’ve done. Of course Will didn’t seem like the type to lie.

“That was amazing,” Will commented after he had finished, and Nico could feel himself beginning to blush again.

“Thanks.”

The car fell into awkward silence as they both struggled to find something – anything, really, to say.

\---

When they had almost reached their destination, Will began laughing. Not just quiet chuckling either – gasping for breath, trying not to cry laughing.

At first Nico thought he was choking or something, and had wrenched the car to the side of the road. He was breathing hard and turning to find out what was wrong when he realized that Will was most definitely laughing, not about to die. It was a strange realization, and it made him furious. He was fine with taking risks every so often, but careening to the side of the road because of a supposed emergency wasn’t a risk. It was just flat out dangerous.

“What the hell are you laughing about?” Nico demanded, crossing his arms and trying to look angry. Somehow it was hard to stay mad at Will when he was laughing this hard.

“I just realized something,” Will gasped between fits of laughter.

“What?”

“I have a license. You have a car.”

“So?”

“We could’ve gone a more direct way if I had driven. It’s legal.”

Understanding began to dawn on Nico’s face and he had to restrain himself from joining in on Will’s intense laughter. It was pretty funny, that nobody had realized that until they were almost to Nico’s house.

Nico let himself laugh a little bit. After all, Will’s joy was fairly contagious.

After they had both calmed down, perhaps five minutes later, Nico shifted in his seat to look at Will. He opened his mouth to say something, but found that nothing he could say could properly describe what he felt at that moment.

Nico’s heart seemed to be racing, and he was overwhelmingly glad that Will had agreed to do this with him, and to be there for him even though they had hardly known each other just a month ago. In that same moment though, Nico realized how royally screwed he was. He was going to have to pretend he didn’t like Will, that every second laughing with him, or holding his hand, or heck… even kissing him, wouldn’t kill him. So he turned back around and the car fell silent once more.

“I’m glad.” Will murmured quietly, and Nico almost didn’t catch it. “I’m glad that you drove. It was nice to talk to you, for real, you know?”

“Yeah,” Nico replied in the same quiet voice and pulled once more into the road. They were so close now, and Nico could feel the nervousness burning in his chest. There was so much that could go wrong, and he didn’t know what to do about it. What if he was wrong and Hades hurt Will somehow? Nico could never live with himself if this ended up with Will hurt either physically or mentally.

Suddenly Nico felt a hand on his knee. He looked over to see Will, smiling his stupid, fantastic smile, worry behind it this time.

“Do you want to find someplace to eat before we get to your house? You’ve got to know all of the good places around here,” Will offered. Nico was almost certain that Will couldn’t be hungry after having eaten the lunch he had packed, but he was grateful for the opportunity anyway. Then again, he had eaten it over three hours ago.

“There’s a great Italian place about a mile away from here,” Nico replied, trying to steady his breathing. Everything was going to be all right, it had to be! The extra time to be away from his father and to brace himself would be much appreciated.

\---

Nico pulled into the parking lot of a small little Italian restaurant that seemed rather cozy and welcoming, but he didn’t get out of the car right away.

“I want you to know…” Nico turned to Will, waiting for a long second before continuing. He needed to find the right words. “My father isn’t all that bad. Sure, he’s homophobic, and sometimes he hates me, but there’s a good reason for that.” One that Nico didn’t really want to go into at the moment. “Most of the time he doesn’t hate me, I’m just… not what he expected out of a son. He tries, though. He tries to be a good father, and I appreciate that he tries. It’s not fair for you to meet him under the assumption that he’s a bigoted abusive bastard, because that’s not true. It’s just… not.” Nico finally fell silent, searching Will’s face for a response.

“I’ll give him a chance,” Will replied reluctantly after several long, tense seconds. It was all Nico could ask, but he couldn’t help but feel a little bit bad that he’d set someone against his dad before they even met him. “But if he does anything, Nico, I’m taking you back to school and we aren’t coming back, Thanksgiving dinner be damned.”

Nico didn’t think he’d ever heard Will sound that serious, and quite frankly he didn’t even believe that part of Will existed. It was certainly difficult to process, seeing the cheerful Will he had come to know contrasted against _this_ Will.

“Nothing’s going to happen,” Nico promised Will, sounding a lot more confident than he felt. It seemed to do the trick with Will, who nodded and got out of the car.

The air was colder here than it had been back at school, though Nico didn’t seem to notice much. Will, on the other hand, looked like he was about to start shivering.

“Let’s get inside,” Nico decided, holding the door open for Will with a smile. Inside was much warmer, and it was easier to appreciate the view from the small town where Nico lived. The sky was beginning to turn bright orange with the sunset as it hit the mountains. They were almost entirely caged in by mountains, and it was beautiful.

“Does your father work at one of the ski resorts here?” Will inquired, and Nico had to keep himself from laughing.

“I guess you could say that. His job is a little bit darker than that.”

“Darker?”

“People get hurt when skiing sometimes. It’s rare, but when there are avalanches or someone gets hurt really badly…”

“Your dad is the town mortician?”

Nico nodded. He could only imagine the thoughts that must have been going through Will’s head, but Will was gracious enough not to say any of them out loud.

“He’s not creepy or anything. What happens at work stays at work, and he rarely has to do anything anyway. His family was pretty rich and influential and he inherited some of his parents’ money, so he spends most of his time at home with Persephone.”

Will didn’t look convinced, but there was nothing Nico could do about that until Will actually had a chance to meet the guy.

“Who’s Persephone?”

“My stepmother.”

“Oh.” Before Will could have a chance to ask about his real mother, Nico decided to redirect the conversation to something a little bit more trivial.

“What kind of food do you like? Pasta? Pizza? Salads?” Will visibly brightened when the question was asked.

“Pasta. Definitely pasta.”

A waiter approached the two of them, a smile on his face when he recognized Nico. “Nico, it’s good to see you! And you’ve brought a friend! My name is Bob. I’ll make sure I’m your server tonight,” he explained as he led Nico and Will over to a booth by the window.

“It’s good to see you too, Bob,” Nico replied, his smile genuine. He sat down and gestured to Will to do the same.

“I will leave you with a menu, but would you like the same as usual, Nico?”

“Yes please.”

Bob handed Will a menu and left to go take care of some other guests. Will glanced over his menu for about a minute before looking up at Nico.

“What did you get?”

“Pasta Carbonara with a side of breadsticks,” Nico replied, shrugging. “It’s probably not the best dish here, but it was my favorite when I was a kid so it’s hard to get anything else.” Will seemed slightly puzzled for a few seconds, and Nico wasn’t convinced he’d really listened to the explanation.

“You have an Italian accent, don’t you? I’ve never really noticed before, but…” Will trailed off when he noticed that Nico’s face had gotten red.

“I lived in Italy until I was seven,” Nico explained, wishing Will hadn’t asked. He didn’t really want to tell the whole story, nor did he want to talk about all of the speech therapists he’d gone to to get rid of his accent because he’d wanted to be normal and his father had wanted the same thing. Luckily, Will didn’t seem all too interested in any of that at the moment.

“That’s cool! Where in Italy?”

“Venice.”

“Do you speak Italian?”

“Yes.”

“Say something in Ital… you probably get a lot of people asking you to do that, don’t you?” Nico nodded in response, and Will frowned ever so slightly. “Sorry if it gets repetitive and annoying.”

“It’s okay.” Nico became very focused on his napkin, hoping Will wouldn’t ask anymore questions.

“I’d like to see Italy sometime. Maybe if we go together sometime you could show me around.”

“I’d like that.” Nico breathed in relief; glad he’d avoided having to tell Will why they’d moved away from Italy.

“I think I’m ready to order,” Will announced, closing his menu and waiting for Bob to show back up to take their order.

“What are you getting?”

“Same as you. I’ve never had Pasta Carbonara before.”

“I think you’ll like it,” Nico allowed himself to smile and enjoy the moment of sitting here and ordering dinner with Will Solace.

\---

“I’ve never been out of the country,” Will remarked over the remnants of their dinner. Both boys had scarfed down the pasta carbonara as quickly as humanly possible, and it was clear that they had both enjoyed it immensely.

“Really?” Nico questioned, tearing up one last bite of breadstick that he was too full to eat but wanted anyway.

“Nope. Does this taste like authentic Italian food? I’ve always wanted to try food from other places, but I never knew whether to order regional food in the United States because it’s just not realistic to expect it to taste the same,” Will explained, and Nico nodded thoughtfully.

“This is the closest I’ve found to what I grew up with.” Nico chuckled to himself before adding, “at least it’s not Olive Garden.”

“Oh dang,” Will laughed, his voice heavy with sarcasm, “I always thought Olive Garden tasted exactly like what real food made in Italy would taste like.”

“It tastes exactly the same,” Nico informed Will in a monotone that just caused Will to laugh even more.

The two gradually fell into a comfortable silence; both of them were content to just sit there and think in a moment of perfect silence and calm. Nico found himself looking up occasionally at Will, studying the planes of his face and the way his freckles seemed to catch the light when he smiled. Once or twice Will met Nico’s gaze, and things felt like they were okay. Nico enjoyed the feeling a bit more than he particularly cared to admit. Yet… maybe if there were moments like this, the next couple days would be a lot more manageable.

“Thank you for showing me this place,” Will smiled while folding up his napkin and placing it neatly on his plate.

“Of course.” Nico let a couple more moments of silence fall before decided to speak again. “Thank you for suggesting some sort of distraction.” Will nodded, and Nico felt himself smile just a little bit.

“We should probably head home,” Nico murmured, not liking the choice they were faced with but finding no other solution. He had put himself in this situation and it would be best if he faced it to the best of his abilities instead of wasting time freaking out about it.

“Only if you’re comfortable with it.”

“Will Solace, are you ready to meet my Dad?”

\---

“Father! Persephone! I’m home!” Nico stepped through the castle-like doors of Hades’ home. The building was almost a mansion, but it wouldn’t be quite right for Nico to describe it that way. It had once been a derelict building, hollowed out and on the verge of collapsing. Hades’ brothers had lent him just enough money to buy the place and the land around it, and somehow Hades had managed to fix it up into what it was now. It towed high above Will and Nico’s head, almost as though it was watching them and judging them with some heavenly insight. The entire thing was painted rather elaborately – it was almost black with white detailing and gold shutters, doors, and other similar features.

The one piece of evidence that the place belonged to a mortician was the skull-shaped doorknocker, which, though it had gone unused and neglected for years, still looked as clean and as nice as the rest of the place did. When Nico was younger he liked to make a game of finding as many unused rooms as possible and pretending he was discovering a new world as he opened the door to each one. Now the building just seemed foreboding and creepy.

“Some place you’ve got here,” Will commented, and though it came off casual, Nico could see the care Will was placing in trying not to say the wrong thing.

“Shut up, Solace,” Nico muttered as he pushed the door open, waiting for someone to greet them. Nobody came, but a pitter-patter of footsteps could be heard around the corner.

“Hold on,” Nico told Will, “There’s someone I want you to meet.” With that said, Nico disappeared around the corner to find what he was looking for – a pure white, three legged dog with little black paws whose tail was wagging so hard it looked like it was about to fall off. “This is Cerberus,” Nico explained as he rounded the corner.

Cerberus started barking loudly at the first sight of Will, and Nico couldn’t help but chuckle. “It’s okay, Cerberus! Will is a friend. He’s a friend, okay? I know you’re my big fierce guard dog but Will’s not going to hurt me, I promise.” Nico glanced up from the dog to Will. “Come a little closer.”

Will took a step forward, which just seemed to make Cerberus’ barking all the more frantic.

“Give him a little sniff,” Nico told the dog, who seemed reluctant to stop barking, but obliged anyway. Once he was assured that Will was not going to kill Nico, Cerberus began his excited tail wagging again and struggled against Nico’s grip so that he could give Will some kisses. “Cerberus is feisty, isn’t he?” Nico asked Will, the affection in his voice making him far more vulnerable than he’d let himself be in a very long time. Somehow it didn’t feel terrifying to let himself be vulnerable in front of Nico. In a way it reminded him of how he’d always been with Hazel.

“He’s cute too.” Will had begun scratching behind Cerberus’ ear and making baby noises at him. It was quite the heartwarming scene, especially when Cerberus practically leapt out of Nico’s arms to take his place in Will’s.

“I don’t think Father or Persephone are home yet,” Nico explained, looking around. The inside of the house was a lot less daunting than the exterior. The room they were in was a fairly normal living room, complete with a coffee table, a couch, a couple of chairs, and a TV. And a dog bed for Cerberus.

“That’s alright.” Will glanced around, and Nico couldn’t help but look at the place from Will’s point of view.

“I’m sorry I didn’t warn you about Father’s place. He’s super into architecture and this period was what stood out to him the most, so he had to model his house around it. If I-”

“You don’t need to apologize.”

“But-”

“I wanted to come. Nothing you could’ve said would’ve stopped me or prepared me any better. I promise you that.

Nico nodded, not quite believing what Will was saying, but putting the apologies behind him anyway. He took a seat on the old floral couch, letting Cerberus lay out beside him while also leaving just enough room for Will either right besides Cerberus or right besides Nico. Much to Nico’s surprise, Will chose to sit next to him.

“Anyway, Father should be home soon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone for all of the support! This is my first real attempt at a fic, so thanks for giving me a shot!


	3. Chapter 3

Nico and Will had retired to two conjoined upstairs bedrooms, one of which being Nico’s own. He’d always enjoyed the room connected by a door because it had felt like he had had his own little secret space away from the immensity of the house. And now Will Solace was staying in it, right next door.

The two boys were currently in Nico’s bedroom, which was still embarrassingly decorated from his emo phase - he hadn’t quite had the time to cover up all of the posters or the dim lighting. Nor had he had the time to replace the clothing he’d purchased when he was younger, but he wore those clothes so often even at that point in time that people rarely made the connection. Nico had brought in a lamp from another room so that they both could see better in the dark room.

“Checkmate!” Will announced triumphantly, to which Nico just shook his head in mock-exasperation. He’d known how to play chess for a very long time, but it was something he was just not good at. Playing it with Will had escalated into intense competition and Will constantly winning before Nico’s strategy had even begun to work.

Suddenly the front door unlocked and Nico knew immediately that Hades was home. He could have panicked and made Will leave immediately, but he felt prepared to face his father. It couldn’t be as bad as he’d imagined it being, especially since there was no way that Hades would act horrible in front of Will. Besides, it was often that Nico’s father was worse in memory than he ever actually was in conversation.

“Let’s go,” Nico murmured to Will, helping him to his feet and sending him a reassuring smile.

Will followed Nico without any objections. Nico began to feel more confident as he continued walking, despite the fact that there were about a million different things that could go wrong in this situation. Hades could absolutely despise Will, which was likely, or it could be someone other than Hades after all… But no. From the shadow in the doorway, Nico was able to recognize his father immediately.

“Good evening, Father. I arrived home before you did, so I figured Will and I could get settled while we waited for you. Had it been a little warmer, we would have waited outside.”

“That's all fine, Nico. You will always be welcome in my home. But you have ‘t introduced me to your… _friend.”_

“Right…” Nico cleared his throat nervously before grabbing Will’s hand from where it dangled at his side. Part of it was definitely to throw their supposed “relationship” into Hades’ face, but the other part was Nico needing someone to connect to. “This is Will Solace. He’s in my science class and we’ve been working on a project together recently. I think you’d enjoy it, it’s about poisons.” Nico had a tendency to talk quickly and incomprehensibly when he wasn’t really certain what to say.

“Anyway,” Nico cut himself off and made himself begin a sentence anew. “Will, this is my father, Hades.” Will appeared completely unfazed by Hades and his intimidating appearance. Though he was comparatively short at 5’7, he was still much taller than both Nico and Will, and he looked like he was legitimately ready to have someone murdered. Yet Will just smiled at him like he was any other normal person.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. di-”

“Hades,” Hades interrupted, seeming quite concerned about the name. “You may call me Hades. Mr. di Angelo was Nico’s grandfather. He died a very long time ago, and I cannot bear to carry around the burden of his name.

“Well, I’m glad to be here, Hades. Nico has told me plenty of stories of this place and of you, but I’d sure like for you to tell me some of your own stories if you get the chance at any point while we’re here.” Nico could tell Will was a little bit shaken, but he seemed confident and comfortable when speaking to Hades. That is not something that can be said about just anyone.

“I’ve got a great deal of stories,” Hades agreed. His smile, when he smiled, was a sharper version of Nico’s, without the soft movement that turned the smile into something genuine and sweet.

“Oh, Father? When is Persephone coming back? It’s almost winter, and Thanksgiving is in two days… will she be here for Thanksgiving dinner?” Nico figured it was a good time to change the subject, especially given they only called time outs when they needed just a little bit more time to think.

“She should be here sometime tomorrow,” Hades explained, letting some of the stress roll off of Nico’s shoulders. It would be easier to deal with only one person rather than two at the same time. Hades at least liked Nico sometimes, whereas Persephone just… didn’t. If Hades ended up liking Will a lot, he had a much larger chance with Persephone. If Will was liked by everyone involved, then Nico's heart just might end up breaking.

But at least he'd be happy for a little while.

“Well, Will Solace. Have you eaten lately?”

“Yes, sir. Nico and I stopped at that one Italian place for dinner.”

“Lovely. If you go at any other point this week then you could grab some food for everyone who might be involved in any way shape or form in the proceedings of the next few days.” Hades fell silent for several very long seconds before speaking again, this time in a lower voice. “Did you enjoy the meal?” Will nodded eagerly and it seemed like that problem had drawn to a close.

“I can cook, occasionally. It’s not the best but it’s what is going to happen. Nothing ever catches on fire and the nobody’s died yet, so I can easily make both of you boys food at some point.”

"That would be lovely, Mr… uh... Hades.” The look that Will shot Nico was confusing, but he supposed he deserved the vague nature of the question. Why was Hades being so nice? Was he really always that nice and Nico had overreacting? Could Nico have been wrong this entire time? Had he lied?

Nico knew for certain that Will most likely didn’t doubt him as much as he doubted himself, but he was afraid that Hades was brewing up an image of himself that was entirely different from the image that Nico had displayed. Then again… maybe it would be a good chance for Will to really look at what he had to choose from, and to make that decision as soon as humanly possible.

“I’ll leave you two boys alone for a while,” Hades said suddenly, leaving the room alone to Nico and Will. Alone is fairly subjective though, especially given that Nico was almost entirely positive that Hades was going to find a way to listen to their conversation anyway.

“We’ll talk later,” Nico told Will quietly, then broke off into menial couple chatter that even Nico could only stand to improv and fake for so long.

Will had merely nodded and had joined in on the completely trivial, yet rather interesting cheesy, overly romantic couple talk that they had to pretend existed between them. It seemed to come at least fairly easy from then on.

After a while Nico heard Hades’ footsteps going away and going somewhere else. They were finally literally alone, but Nico tried his best not to trust anything right out. Avoiding danger was a lot easier when you were alone and harder to find than being a victim tied to other people through bonds of any sort. Danger included people finding out the things that he didn’t particularly want people to know. That was too humiliating.

\---

“We can finally talk openly,” Nico announced just as he lay down. An untimely knock came from someone behind the door. It was just someone getting ready to help with any transitions that needed to be made. Sure, they could stay and listen, but they would be gone by the time anything of importance was said.

“I feel like we’re spies in some bad kid’s mystery novel.” Will laughed once they were certain the person was gone. “You know, finding out secret information and whatnot.” The comparison gave some levity to the situation, which Nico appreciated much more than he was willing to let on.

“I bet you’re wondering about my dad and what’s true from what I told you.” Nico went straight to the point, unwilling to consider other things that might be on Will’s mind.

“I don’t doubt what you say about him-”

“No, I get it. He just seemed really nice right now. And he is really nice, sometimes. You just have to get him on a good day. He’s also nicer to guests than he is to family, but if he doesn’t like you he won’t try to hide it.”

“Are you saying he… likes me?”

“He certainly doesn’t dislike you. Maybe he’s trying to give you a chance, y’know? Everyone could do well with the benefit of the doubt.”

“I suppose so.” Will fell silent after that. Nico was half afraid that he’d done something wrong, but addressing it outright wouldn’t do them any good at the moment. Instead…

“Do you know anything about plants or gardening?”

“I’m not really much of an outdoors-y person, but I know some.”

“Perfect. Then you’ll get along with Persephone just fine.”

“Nico?” Something about Will’s voice froze Nico in his tracks.

“Yeah?”

“Why do you think you have to justify everything to me? I’m not trying to accuse you, but it’s almost like you’re afraid that I’m going to leave you here on your own.” Will paused for a moment, and Nico got the feeling he was searching for the right words to say. He pushed down the impulse to kiss Will until he didn’t have to say anything for Nico to understand. That wasn’t what Will was here for. “I’m here because I want to be there for you, and because I want to get to know you better. I’m not here because I want to like everything I see and everything that’s happening.”

Oh. Nico had never really considered why it was that Will had chosen to come. There were plenty of opportunities to turn back, yet Will had taken none of them. Instead he’d kept going on stubbornly with Nico. It wasn’t that he wasn’t grateful, it was just that the fact was surprising to him.

“Nico?”

“Oh.” Nico fell silent, not really having a good response to use. “I don’t want you to leave,” he shrugged, even though he knew it wasn’t the reason Will was looking for.

“Are you scared that I will?”

Nico replied with a barely perceptible nod. In all honesty, he was afraid that Will was going to leave, but he wasn’t ready to explain why. That was his own personal business, especially since he and Will weren’t actually dating.

“You don’t have to be scared. I wouldn’t leave, alright? That’s just not something I would do.” Will’s voice was reassuring, and somehow Nico found that he believed him. It was crazy and illogical, but something told him that Will wasn’t going to leave if he could help it.

“I believe you.” Nico knew he sounded surprised, and he knew it was probably going to offend Will, but there wasn’t a whole lot he could do about that. Will had to know how much this meant to Nico. He couldn’t be that clueless.

“Do you think your father buys our relationship?” The way Will changed the subject was familiar enough to Nico – he often found himself doing the same thing when silence became uncomfortable or he didn’t have an adequate response.

“I don’t think he wants to, but yes. He definitely buys it. Persephone might be a little bit harder to convince, but I don’t know for certain. We’ll just have to wait and see.

“Tell me about Persephone,” Will asked, sounding both interested and like he was preparing to brace himself. “I want to know what I’m getting myself into.”

“Persephone is intense in a way my father is not. There’s no question about my father’s intensity, but Persephone’s is worse but much, much different. She’s a little bit intimidating, if I’m being honest, and I think she resents me.”

“Why?”

“She’s married to my father and my mother wasn’t. She hates Hazel and her mother as well, but that was the second time it happened so she more blames my father for that. Either way, it’s enough of a reason to resent someone.”

“Alright. What does she like to do in her spare time?”

“Anything outside. Father’s doesn’t have the best ground for gardening, but she manages to make it work somehow.”

“How can I get her to like me?” Will sounded fairly nervous about that one. Part of Nico wondered how much Will worried about people judging him on a daily basis. He seemed above all of that, but it wouldn’t be hard to believe if he really wasn’t. He had to have some flaws, and this was the only one Nico had even seen a hint of.

“The sooner I’m out of her life the happier she is, so if she thinks you’re going to be part of that plan, you’re good. But also just make sure that you talk to her and you try to participate in some of her hobbies. She’s very picky about gardening, but you’re very meticulous when it comes to projects so I think the skills would translate well.”

“I’ll do my best to get on her good side.” Will seemed to consider for several moments before asking a question that probably could’ve been offensive had there been anyone else in the room. “Who’s in charge of their relationship? There’s usually someone who’s in charge and someone who’s still a part of it but is less open and a little bit more docile.

“Neither one of them,” Nico replied honestly. It didn’t help Will with what he was trying to do, but it was true. They were both in charge of the relationship at some point, and that was something that definitely needed to be pointed out and acknowledged. “When one is in charge, the other listens and follows along with their mood, but when the other is in charge it’s vice versa. Of course some days they’re both in charge and nobody really knows what’s happening, but I highly doubt that is going to happen this time around. You don’t have to worry about that.” Will looked nervous anyway.

“Hey,” Nico muttered suddenly, uncertain exactly where he was going with this but hoping it came across anyway. “I know this isn’t exactly the best place to stay, but if you need anything just come into my room and I’ll make sure you get it. Anything, okay?” Will nodded and the conversation seemed to draw to a close. Despite the fact that he wasn’t allowed to think certain thoughts, Nico couldn’t help but linger on the imagined image of Will lying in the same room as him, Will’s subtle breathing sending Nico off to sleep. It was an idea that was unrealistic and probably a bit outdated, but an idea that Nico liked nonetheless, no matter how stupid it was.

“Of course. And I can’t really get you _anything,_ especially since I just barely started to learn my way around, but if you want something I can give you - preferably intangible like hope, support, comfort, you know – just come in at any time. I’ll be here.” Will closed the door behind him and Nico was left alone in the dark to consider his next move.

\---

“Nico.” The voice sounded like it was coming from far, far away, so Nico rolled over for just a little bit more sleep. The sun hadn’t risen yet and Nico quite honestly would rather have died than get out of bed.

“Nico!” The voice, this time more urgent, came again, waking Nico up for good. He’d gotten paint almost everywhere in the dream he had just been having, so he was very surprised when he realized that the dream was not something that had actually happened. It was a little bit of a wakeup call for Nico, if he was being honest.

“Nico!” One last time, and this time Nico recognized Will’s voice.

“Is everything alright?” Through the dim moonlight trailing through the window, Nico could tell that everyone was looking at something (he didn’t know what) with a great deal of concern. If he was being honest, that fact in and of itself concerned him.

“Everything is just fine,” Will replied, his lips tilting into a smile. With the pale moonlight filtering through and Will’s hands around Nico’s, Nico could almost pretend like this was a legitimate thing that was happening. It seemed to be some sort of running joke that it wasn’t, and the joke had begun to lose its hilarity.

“Why did you wake me up? Nico rubbed at his eyes and messed around his sleep-tousled hair. He would have time to fix it when it was actually morning instead of late at night when anybody with any sense would be asleep, or at least nearly asleep.

“You have to come see this.” Nico wasn’t entirely certain what “this” was going to be, but Will’s awed tone had caught his attention. He seemed transfixed by what he saw out of the window. Nico wasn’t certain he’d ever seen Will with that expression before. It was new to him, and as far as Nico could tell it was new to Will as well.

When Nico came over to the window, he saw immediately what Will had been referring to. Down in the grass was a small mountain lion with two even smaller cubs playing around its paws.

“Mountain lions are extinct in New York,” Nico murmured in awe. He glanced at Will like the other boy could clear up the confusion even though that would be impossible.

“That’s what I thought too. Did you not hear it screaming just a few minutes ago?” Nico shook his head. “How did you miss a large cat screaming a little more than a level away from where you were sleeping? That’s ridiculous.”

“I’m not certain,” Nico admitted. “I was exhausted, you can’t really blame me for not hearing something loud while I was sleeping. You know how catch-up sleep is during a stressful situation. I’m sure you’ve had to do it before. I find for me, at least, that it’s almost like hibernation in the fact that I find it very difficult to process anything that’s going on when I’m tired,” Nico admitted with a small grimace.

“Either way,” Will shrugged, turning his attention back to the miracle of the animal that had managed to calm down just a bit. It paced back and forth across Nico’s wall, looking more at home than it had any right to in an area where none of others of its kind existed. Perhaps that was why it didn’t seem terrified around humans. If it had grown up around humans, perhaps it was from a rescue in which case… it would probably be very important to get it back where it came from. Then again, Nico knew next to nothing about these animals and seeing the majestic beauty of one right below him was astounding.

“Have you ever seen a mountain lion before?” Nico asked, just to break the silence.

“Once, on our way back home. Just once though. Have you?

“Never. They’re gorgeous animals.”

“You have a sweet spot for animals, don’t you?”

Nico didn’t really have an answer for that. It was just easier to be around animals, even if they didn’t like him very much. There was just something about animals that was beautiful and made things easier, especially when a situation is naturally hard. Animals just calmed Nico down. Even the violent ones, surprisingly enough.

“They’re easier than people,” he told Will, despite the fact it probably felt like they were dodging his question, which was actually pretty important.

Will shrugged in response. It hit Nico all at once – Will must have been allergic to dogs and other animals, and he’d been around Nico. Will seemed to really like puppies, but petting and being near them seemed to trigger Will’s, and to a lesser extent, Nico’s allergies.

“Have you ever had any pets?” Nico questioned. Perhaps it was something just from the perspective of servants are property, which they aren’t, but there was the idea of someone who stayed home all the time who would be able to play, versus someone who goes around looking like a stripper all day but its actually really catholic and had no time for anything.

“I have a bearded dragon!” Will announced, smiling the way Nico did when he talked about his own family pets. “His name is Samuel, and I think he thinks he’s a dog.”

Nico liked listening to Will speak about things he enjoyed, and things he had a lot of feelings over. This was no exception. Will’s eyes seemed to light up and brighten when he spoke about Samuel. Nico’s heart ached in his chest because he really, really wanted to be able to be excited with Will as they drew nearer and nearer to the future. Though there  _was_ no future for them

Nico didn’t really get a chance to get a single word out, but he didn’t mind. He laughed in all the right places, and the story was perfect, no questions asked. Though... Nico was almost entirely certain that Will BSing things and making them seem like they were a lot more exciting and daunting for a bearded dragon than they were actually likely to be.

“I’d like to meet your dragon one day,” Nico smiled, liking the idea that Will owned a dragon, even if it were only a teensy little one who liked to hide because it was too shy. That fact just made it all the more appealing, if Nico was being honest.

“I think you’d like him, and I think he’d like you.”

The mountain lion had moved several steps away from the two and was almost out of view. They didn’t want to leave the windowsill for fear that the creature would come back, and for fear that it had been some sort of important sign. About what, Nico had no clue. He just knew he wasn’t supposed to forget things like that.

“Goodbye, magical creature,” Nico called after it as it made its final steps out of sight. Will echoed the sentiment right after. The two boys had been connected by something that was bigger than them, and seeing the creature come and go had created something else to fight for, even if this was something that was not the original goals of the organization.

“I think I’m going to take it as a sign,” Nico decided, receiving a nod from Will. “But maybe also as a warning because we might have to fight for the impossible.”

“That’s a little bit deep for this late at night,” Will commented, only to receive a _look_ from Nico.

“You can blame yourself. You’re the entire reason that I am awake right now at this time to think about anything at all.

“Go back to sleep then,” Will whispered, and slipped through his door to go back to sleep in the bed that had been designated as his own for the next few days. Nico fell back into his and had no difficulty falling back into an incredibly deep sleep.

\---

“Nico.” At first Nico thought the firm voice waking him up belonged to Will, but that was most definitely not the case. He was very surprised to find his father at the foot of his bed, looking nervous about whatever he had to say. It took a lot to make Hades nervous, so the nerves seemed to rub off on him a bit as well.

“Father? Is everything alright?”

“Yes, fine. Son, I’m sorry I did not call you back. Of course I didn’t think you were actually serious, but obviously you and Will are getting it on. I cannot in good conscience say that I approve, but if it had to be anyone, I’m glad you found someone like Will who will last a long time at your side.” Hades finished talking, but it was clear that that wasn’t what he had come into the room for. Nico was either a distraction or a disruption for his father. Yet, if his father was in a good mood, he’d be able to avoid doing work and chores out in the cold. Nico hoped that that was what Hades had come to tell him.

“Father?”

“Yes Nico?”

“Why are you here?”

“There’s something I need you to do.”

“I’m going to get caught this time, aren’t I?”

“What is there to be caught for?”

“You know very well what I might get caught for. No. I’m not doing it.”

“You could do it with Will and make it look like tourism. It practically is, and it’s not even technically illegal. It’s not a huge deal, Nico, but I need something for Persephone, and it’s best to listen to the secrets of everyone in town so that I know exactly what I need to do.”

“I have schoolwork and Thanksgiving is tomorrow.”

“Too bad.”

“I won’t do it.” It was at that moment that the two of them noticed that Will had been watching from the doorframe for who knew how long. How much had he heard? He’d certainly think that Nico and his father were doing something illegal, and Nico wasn’t the right person to even talk to because he so shamelessly went along with plans he was supposed to be opposing.

“Morning, Will,” he grumbled before getting out of bed. He decided it would be best to just pretend the conversation he’d been having with Hades just hadn’t happened. But it had, and Will had seen it, and at some point he’d have to explain it.

“Good morning Nico,” Will replied, glancing almost nervously at Hades. Nico’s father got the message and excused himself from the room, but not without first sending Will a dirty look.

“I wasn’t supposed to hear that.” Will’s observation was accurate, though he didn’t seem like he was going to ask about it. At least not right at that moment.

“No you weren’t.” Nico knew his voice came out harsher than he’d meant it to, but he couldn’t help it. He didn’t really want Will in all of his private business. Yet, on the other hand, he wanted to be able to share everything with Will. There seemed to be a disconnect there, and that seemed to only make Nico more frustrated. “Let’s go downstairs,” he muttered, receiving only a noncommittal nod from Will.

\---

“Balloons.” It was the first thing that Will said once they got downstairs. Nico had no idea what he meant, but he didn’t have time to ask before Will began to explain. “I know the goal of this is to piss off your parents, but maybe making a good impression would be smart, especially with what you’ve told me about Persephone. Maybe we could decorate the house with balloons.”

“Okay…” Nico murmured, quirking one eyebrow up. “Persephone doesn’t really like balloons. But if you really want to piss her off I’m all for it!”

“If you’re okay with getting her angry… I mean, maybe we want to save it in case she’s homophobic towards us.”

“So? We go out and buy balloons now and if we don’t end up using them, so what? I like your idea, Will.” Nico had never been very good at pranking people, and he hated being pranked, but he did have a mischievous streak that came out sometimes. This was unquestionably one of those times.        “I’ll drive,” Will sighed in overdramatic reluctance, but Nico could see the way he was trying to stifle his smile.

“I call picking music!” Nico replied, a smirk on his face. He pegged Will as someone who listened to hip-hop and pop and more cheerful music. He was also fairly certain that Will pegged Nico as someone who listened to metal and music that comprised mostly of screaming. Nico didn’t _hate_ that kind of music and he did own a couple of band shirts, but that wasn’t what he had in mind.

“How worried should I be?” Will teased as he revved the engine and Nico plugged his phone into the aux cord. Beethoven’s twelfth symphony started blaring through the speakers. Perhaps not the most cheerful music, but Nico liked it.

"There we go,” Nico smiled, making Will just shake his head.

“I knew I shouldn’t have given you the aux cord. Car music is supposed to be loud and obnoxious," Will smiled. "I can play pieces of this on piano though. It’s one of my favorites to play, though I’m not very good.”

“I didn’t know you could play piano.”

“Yes! I usually play jazz stuff though. It’s what I learned how to play first and it’s a lot more natural to me because of that,” Will shrugged.

The two delved into a long conversation about music, and before they knew it they had arrived at Party City, just outside the city limits.

\---

“How many balloons should we get?” Nico questioned. He had only been to Party City once, and that had been a very long time ago. Plus he only had a very vague idea of how to blow balloons up properly. Bianca had always been the one who had tied off the balloons for Nico when their mother gave them balloons when they had both been good.

“We probably should err on the side of buying too many. Normal balloons aren’t very expensive and we aren’t buying character balloons or anything over the top like that.”

“Too bad. I can think of about a million different jokes to make about those. Have you seen Disney’s Hercules?”

“You mean the one with the guy who has blue hair that’s made out of flames?”

“That one, yep! Did you know that guy’s name is Hades?”

“It’s been a while since I last watched it,” Will admitted, but he seemed very amused by the fact that Nico’s dad shared a name with a rather laughable movie villain.

“I sort of want to buy a Hades balloon if they have one and then make a joke about it to Father. I’m not sure he’d appreciate it, but if the goal is to piss him off then mission accomplished!”

“Let’s just stick to normal balloons,” Will laughed. The Party City they had landed at was much larger than it had any right to be. It was almost like a labyrinth, and the labels for things weren’t very clear. Had it not been for Will and his magic navigation skills, Nico would have gotten lost five times over. As it was it took them about twenty minutes just to find where the balloons were being sold. It turned out that there were multiple locations for balloons, and the only ones sold at the front desk were the super expensive specialized ones that neither Will nor Nico were able to pay for. It was a pity.

“Do we want water balloons or just normal balloons?” Nico questioned, glancing at package after package of balloons. It wasn’t how he imagined spending his morning, but it was very enjoyable. Will was good at cracking exactly the right joke at exactly the right moment, and Nico found himself laughing more than he had in a very, very long time.

“Unless we want to soak her we want normal balloons. But if she really deserves us pissing her off we might want to grab a couple of water balloons just to throw at her to annoy her. Or throw one anytime she or your father say something homophobic.”

Nico liked that idea. When they finally finished in the balloon aisle, their cart was almost full and they had almost bought out the entire balloon supply of Party City. Nico had even wanted to buy the balloons specifically made for balloon animals, but even he realized that that wasn’t going to be a particularly good idea. When the two had finished they had over two hundred balloons in their cart – that was just over forty dollars worth of balloons.

“I think it’s worth it,” Will commented. Nico was inclined to agree. It would be great fun to flood the house with balloons as soon as either Hades or Persephone deserved it. Maybe even before that because neither Nico nor Will seemed very tempted to follow the rules at that moment.

“I don’t want to go home,” Nico admitted once they had finished up inside the store. There wasn’t much else to do out there in the middle of nowhere, but for whatever reason it seemed a lot better than trying to figure out whether Hades would be acting creepy or supportive, and it would be better than wondering if Persephone was back yet.

“We can do something else,” Will suggested. He pulled out his phone to look up some stuff, but he didn’t get very far before he was interrupted by Nico.

"Why did you agree to come?” It sounded almost accusatory, but Nico couldn’t really control his tone as much as he wished he could have.

“The food.” Will said it with such a straight face that Nico believed it for a full couple of seconds.

“Seriously though. There’s nothing in it for you, and Hades at least is being surprisingly civil.”

“I didn’t have anything else to do over break, so I figured I might as well try to help make sure your break is less hellish.” Being alone is one thing but being alone in a family that doesn’t like you… it happened surprisingly often to Nico. It was probably just something that ran in the family because the nobody ever really liked each other in the family. And people always seemed to look towards older family members for answers when there weren't any. 

“Thank you, then. For coming, I mean. Hades and Persephone aren’t the types that are always surrounded by guests. I’m glad they’re not, actually,” Nico admitted. If there were more quests then they would just be dragged down into family drama and that was not a good situation to put a friend in, especially since friends tend to think they should probably take their friend’s side instead of listening to both pieces.

“Well, even if we aren’t supposedly dating by Winter Break, I’d be happy to add one face to the family and come and support you here every break. You mean a lot to me.” Will sounded perhaps more serious and open than he’d had since the very beginning of the trip. At first it threw Nico off, but he decided just to go with it. Nico couldn’t tell at all where Will was going to stand in relation to him, but Nico had hopes – the more serious and smart Nico was, the more open Will might be inclined to be with him.

“I wouldn’t make you do that. But I’m glad you’re here now,” Nico admitted. He wished he could reciprocate with the statement about Nico meaning a lot to Will, but Nico was often so scared of connecting with people and then screwing up that he’d found it very difficult to make meaningful connections with people quickly. That wasn’t to say that Will wasn’t very important or that Nico wasn’t grateful, it was just that he didn’t know when people crossed certain thresholds of friendship because it often felt like his thresholds were much different than everyone else’s.

“If you ever need any help with anything, let me know. In the meantime, let’s get back to your father.”

“I’d suggest going to brunch but I don’t think either of us have money and my father would argue that I could just make eggs on the stove.” Nico’s voice had become pensive when he’d realized they still had eggs in the fridge. “I’ll make you eggs later tonight, alright?”

\---

There was a lot of cleaning up that needed to happen for Hades to feel comfortable with Persephone coming home. He had put Will and Nico to work, but he had assigned them tasks that separated them as often as he could. What the real reasoning behind that was Nico wasn’t entirely sure, but the homophobia factor didn’t seem to be the underlying thing behind the situation.

“Father, do we have to get her garden prepped?”

“Don’t touch her garden,” Hades ordered with an intensity that made Nico question whether Hades himself was even allowed to touch the garden. That was Persephone’s domain, and neither Hades nor Nico felt comfortable asking about it much beyond the usual questions.

“Then… are we done?” Nico asked, raising an eyebrow at his father. Eventually Hades sighed and shooed them away to go do whatever they wanted as long as it was appropriate. Hades knew very well that appropriate could be subjective, but luckily there was no problem with Nico and Will doing anything inappropriate.

“We could theoretically clean the garage right now,” Nico commented to Will, but neither boy seemed to care as much as they probably should have, but there was a lot more to think about between the both of them.

“Can’t we wait until after Persephone arrives? It’s just going to get worse, I’m being honest here.” Nico recognized the impatience and frustration almost immediately.

“I personally think just laying here and chilling for a while wouldn’t be that bad, and we could probable get an excuse for work that I didn’t finish but tried to really hard on.” Nico’s statement was a little bit too real, but neither of them had any work they needed to get done over Thanksgiving Break. It was just small, inconsequential assignments.

“I’m okay with us just laying here until Persephone arrives,” Will agreed. “It’s something else to be in someone’s car and complain about someone who isn’t in the car at all, but it would be a lot nicer if we could just talk in here and pretend like nobody is listening to us.”

Nico was about to respond, but he stopped himself before he pushed out a semi-coherent reply. He knew that his sentences often came out perplexing and probably convoluted when he was uncertain because he tended to talk a lot. It was just a bad habit that as hard as he tried, he didn’t really have the ability to stamp down. Now, however, he could remedy it by speaking just a little bit less.

“I’d like that.” Nico let himself sprawl across the bed in his room. He was braced for his father calling him down to do more chores, but at this point that seemed unlikely to happen. That took a huge weight off of Nico’s shoulders.

“Hey, Will?” Nico asked after several long moments of silence.

“Yeah?”

“If you don’t mind me asking, why weren’t you planning on doing anything for Thanksgiving before this came up?”

“I could have gone with my family to do something else on Thanksgiving Day and suffer through undercooked turkey at night,” Will replied, but the way he said it made it clear that he didn’t actually hate the idea. “It was just a last minute option, y’know? Just in case nothing better came up.”

“Would you have gotten to see the people in your family that you really like spending time with?”

“Yes, but I already spend time with them whenever I can. They’re all on a list I have about who to talk to, but I don’t have a lot of time,” Will admitted with a shrug. “Besides, it’s not like it was a one time opportunity to go have Thanksgiving with them this year. They’re my family, so the same invitation will be open to me next year.”

“Maybe next year I can come meet your family. I think they’re probably a lot sweeter and more welcoming than Hades and Persephone are, but once you see the two of them together you won’t really be surprised.

“Next year,” Will agreed, holding out the water he’d been drinking for a cheer.

“Did you bring anything to do?” Nico asked after another really long lapse in talking. When Will shook his head, Nico set to work to find some sort of game that would help pass the time until Persephone arrived.

“I forgot to ask… does your family do the specific seating chart where you tend to sit at dinner? Or is it just fairly normal and whatever goes?”

“It doesn’t really matter. Persephone will expect you to wear something that is at least mildly formal. She grew up in a family that believed in wearing something nice whenever possible.” Nico explained, to which Will nodded. Nico considered his current outfit before he began speaking again. “What I’m wearing is good enough. If you didn’t bring anything like this, you can borrow something of mine. Though I honestly don’t think you’ll need to. You always dress really nicely.”

“My mother didn’t want me to grow up dressing poorly. Plus I like looking good.”

“You don’t have to worry about not looking good,” Nico replied without thinking.

“You think I look good?” Will shot back, looking both surprised and pleased. Suddenly he offered Nico a dazzling smile, and Nico was afraid that he’d said too much.

“Yes, you look good,” Nico sputtered, right as there was a knock on the door. Persephone was home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the nice comments! I'll be honest, this chapter is a little bit of a mess, whoops! I've finally gotten everything all planned out though, so things will be evening out soon.


	4. Chapter 4

Nico had to admit that Persephone was objectively beautiful, and that his father had picked a decent looking woman to marry. She had dark skin that seemed to almost glow under the sunlight in the doorway, and hair just a few shades darker that was tied back into an elaborate knot. Nico had been trying to find something to do with his own abnormally long hair that was no long enough to pull into a ponytail, but he could never get it to look nearly that elegant. She had hazel eyes that were sometimes a little too intense for Nico’s taste, but always seemed to be watching and judging from where they sat in the perfect position on her face. So, yes, if Nico weren’t gay, and if Persephone didn’t hate him so much, and if she were closer to his age, Nico would maybe consider dating her. Maybe.

“Welcome home, Persephone,” Nico greeted her once she stepped through the door, but he knew his voice sounded forced and far from enthusiastic. Will stood besides him, and, sensing the disturbance in his voice, reached down to grasp Nico’s hand. Nico knew it was just for show, but Will’s presence there was so comforting he almost wished it were for real.

Persephone turned to give Will an appraising look, letting out a judgmental “harrumph,” before ignoring the two and going to find Hades. Nico supposed it was better than what she could have done, so at least they were getting somewhere.

“She’s… pleasant,” Will commented from beside Nico.

“Very.”

“Is she always-?”

“Yes.” Nico turned to look at Will, who looked disgusting. Something in Nico’s heart began to stir with the idea that Will just might be worried about him, even if it were completely unnecessary. Nico didn’t have to stay very often at all, and even when he did it wasn’t usually for very long.

“Don’t worry,” he added to Will, offering a smile that wasn’t quite convincing, but was close enough to suffice in the moment.

“You saying that makes me worry about you.” For a long moment, Nico was tempted to reach onto his tiptoes and kiss Will right then and there, then leave while saying something clever about how he could take care of himself. Nico knew that couldn’t happen, so he held himself back. The two stood in silence for several seconds before Nico looked down and realized that his hand was still clasped in Will’s. Suddenly afraid that all of his secrets had been left wide out in the open for Will to read, Nico wrenched his hand away and fled for the steps, ready to get lost among the large, untraceable rooms within the mansion.

It was an understatement to say that the house was labyrinthine. Even Nico, who had lived there for the vast majority of his life, could hardly find his way around. That meant it was the perfect place to run around to find a place to hide and gather his feelings. It was barely the end of the second day, and Nico was already struggling. If this was how he felt about Will at the very beginning, how was Nico going to make it after they had to kiss to prove a point? How was Nico going to survive knowing that everything he was experiencing was a lie, even though it was real to Nico. It was so very real to Nico.

Nico found a door somewhere on the third floor and slammed it shut behind him. The room had been a bedroom of some sort, and it was furnished completely with a desk, a chair, a bed, and a vanity. There was some old makeup that couldn’t have been from anytime after the 1900s. Sometimes Nico wondered if Hades had really cleaned the place out or had just pretended to. Nonetheless, the odd trinkets from throughout history just made the experience more mysterious and unique. The room was absolutely filled with dust, especially the floral curtains hanging from the window just above Nico’s head. He tried yanking at them, but that just ended up showering a cloud of dust all over him.

“I’m sorry, Will,” Nico murmured to himself. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this situation, and I’m sorry it’s too real for me. I’m sorry I ever thought this was a good idea, and I’m sorry that I have feelings for you.”

If anyone were to ask if Nico had ever said or done that, his answer would undoubtedly be no. He had done it by himself in a secluded room, so the chance of eavesdropping by anyone but the dead was extremely low.

“Nico?” Once Nico had fallen silent, he heard someone calling his name.

“Nico?” The second time it happened, Nico was positive that Will was looking for him. Somehow he seemed to be on the right floor as well. From right outside the door, the call came a third time, and Nico felt possessed to answer.

“Will?” Nico heard the footsteps stop right outside his door. He smiled when Will entered. The blonde haired boy looked both concerned and relieved, both of which surprised Nico for some odd reason.

“I’m glad I found you!” Will exclaimed, and there was something in his voice that made Nico reconsider everything. It was possible he was just imagining things, but Will had never taken that tone of voice with him before. The tone of voice that parents get when they love you but they’re pissed at you because you terrified them by running off.

“Sorry.” The word sounded so horribly inadequate, but it was the best that Nico could manage given the circumstances.

“No, I just…” Will faltered for a second, then moved to sit next to Nico. Nico was painfully aware of how close he was, yet how far away he seemed. It wasn’t that Nico wasn’t happy with them being friends, but he wanted something else that he wasn’t going to be able to get. “Were you uncomfortable with us holding hands? Because we can downplay it if you want. You know, just do it when your father or Persephone is really pissed off?” Gods, Will sounded so nervous and concerned, and Nico didn’t have the courage to tell him that the problem was the exact opposite of what he had just suggested.

“Not at all,” Nico replied hastily. It was probably too quick, but there was nothing he could do about that once the words were out. “I just… sometimes I get overwhelmed by touch.” It wasn’t a lie, it was just that what had happened with Will wasn’t related. Still, it was a cover that wouldn’t hurt Will’s feelings.

“When I was younger I used to get into a lot of fights,” Nico explained, though he knew it sounded ridiculous. “I wasn’t very strong at first, so I’d get beaten up a lot, but even when I learned how to fight back, I was often outmatched. There were kids who were older than I was, or bigger, or simply just stronger. The school never really did anything to stop it, so I had to put an end to it myself,” he let out a cold laugh. “Father didn’t really care much. He helped me learn how to fight once I had already gotten the basics down, but he didn’t care much beyond that.”

Will nodded in sympathy, and Nico continued, confident that Will was listening and wasn’t going to judge him for it.

“I started getting super uncomfortable when people hug me or try to come near me because I uh… I don’t like being vulnerable.” He let the word hang in the air for a couple seconds before he continued again. “I thought I was getting better, but sometimes it’s hard, and I’ll get memories of being pinned down and helpless, of getting beat up because I was gay, and for other reasons…”

“My father taught me medicine and how to heal and treat basic injuries in case I was targeted for being bi and I couldn’t get out of the situation safely. It’s not really a safe world for us out there,” Will admitted. It was the first time Nico had ever heard him really, fundamentally _afraid_ of something. Nico had so many fears that he tried to hide by appearing tougher than he actually was, but Will seemed to be made of sunshine. It was hard to imagine him being afraid of anything, yet here he was, afraid of much the same thing as Nico.

"No, it’s not.” Nico wished he had something comforting to say, but he really didn’t have anything. He wasn’t a particularly positive person to say the least, so even in situations that weren’t as difficult he found it hard to say anything that could have helped.

“If we stick together it might just make things a little bit easier,” Will murmured, sending a small, encouraging smile towards Nico. He held out his hand, extending Nico a silent invitation. He seemed to be taken what Nico had told him into consideration, and wasn’t forcing the contact. Nico was grateful. He hadn’t lied, he did often freak out when he had to be too close to someone, or intimate even in a handshake or a hug. It often made him feel too vulnerable. Yet, somehow with Will he didn’t feel that nearly as much.

\---

The first dinner with Persephone there was tense. There was no other word for it. Persephone didn’t seem inclined to speak to either Nico or Will, who had their hands clasped under the table. Cerberus often came poking around in that area for any semblance of extra food, and it took all of Nico’s strength not to giggle at the ticklishness of Cerberus licking their clasped hands to find food.

Hades, much to his credit, was trying to keep the conversation alive between every person at the table. He was trying, though not very successfully. Nico and Will remained stubbornly silent, and Persephone addressed Hades like neither Nico nor Will were there. An unspoken agreement passed between the two of them. They were going to use the balloons at some point this week. Nico voted for Monday, while Will was fairly set on the very next day. They’d be able to settle that on their own time.

“So,” Will said loudly, breaking through the tension. It wasn’t much, but it did just enough to create some effect, and a shift of attention at the table. “Persephone, I hear you like gardening.” Will’s voice was wonderfully icy, with just a hint of sickly-sweet at the end of his sentence.

“Yes,” Persephone responded, just as icily.

“Perhaps I could help you with some gardening while I’m here. I’d love to get to know you better.” Will’s smile was razor sharp, miles away from the small, warming private one he usually gave Nico. It was a chilling sight to see.

“Perhaps you could. Though I am very particular about how my garden is taken care of.” Persephone swiftly shut down the conversation, and everyone returned to eating silently. It seemed much preferable to everyone at the table besides Hades, and only because Hades needed something for himself out of the situation.

“You will need to act civilized with each other for dinner, alright? I invited more people this year, hopefully at least one will come.”

“That’d be an improvement from last year,” Nico shot at his father. A flash of anger flickered across Hades’ face, but he quickly got it under control.

“Last year was an off year.”

“So was the year before that.”

“Nicholas Ettore di Angelo, that is not how you speak to your father. I will not have you disrespecting me in front of guests. You have one more chance.” Hades’ voice was loud, and, quite frankly terrifying. Nico shrunk down in his seat just a little bit, though he wasn’t exactly going to shut up. Yet it would probably be wise to try to be a little bit subtler with his unhappiness about the way he was being treated.

The meal continued on in silence, but there wasn’t much complaining about that. Will and Nico sometimes exchanged looks, but even Hades had given up trying to foster conversation. Nico was just glad because it meant his father’s attention was directed elsewhere.

“May we be excused?” Nico questioned once it seemed like they had all finished most of what had been in front of them. There was no use wasting food, Nico knew that from experience before he’d come to live with his father.

Hades, though disgruntled, nodded. Will and Nico left the table as quickly as possible, much to the chagrin of both Hades and Persephone. They saw it as extremely disrespectful.

\---

“Hypocrites,” Nico muttered under his breath once they reached his room. Will only just barely heard him, but he seemed to share the sentiment.

“That’s how it tends to be with homophobes,” Will commiserated. He seemed to pause for a second before taking a seat besides Nico on the bed. Nico was well aware of Will’s presence besides him, but it didn’t hurt as much as it normally did. He was grateful for Will beside him, he couldn’t lie about that. Yet, there was something unfair about keeping him here. He’d already questioned Will about why he had come with, and Will had made it clear that he wasn’t going to leave, but Nico didn’t want to put Will through this. He couldn’t do that – he really didn’t want to have to do that.

“Hey, they weren’t outright homophobic or anything,” Will murmured, but not before he took Nico’s hand and squeezed it. “You’re going to make it through this week, I promise you. We’re going to make it through together, okay?”

Nico glanced down at their clasped hands with a puzzled expression, and then nodded. He found himself leaning his head on Will’s bony yet surprisingly comfortable shoulder.

“Okay,” he added in a small voice, relying on Will’s strength to get through this. Will amazed him, simple as that. He was able to get through everything with his shoulder’s held high, yet he was incredibly humble and kind.

“Y’know… we still have water balloons,” Will suggested, to which Nico responded with a half-hearted smile. He knew that it was Will’s attempt to make him feel better, so he tried to muster up the best response that he could.

“Hey, are you alright?” Will’s voice was filled with concern, and part of Nico felt like flinching away. He wanted to cling to Will as a shield against the things that he worried about, but he also wanted to keep Will away from his problems as much as possible. They were here to piss off Hades and Persephone, not to deal with Nico and his problems.

“Yeah, just tired.” Nico stretched his arms far over his head and yawned pointedly, perfectly illustrating the point he was trying to make. Though part of Nico didn’t want him to, Will took the hint and left Nico alone to reflect on the horrible dinner on his own. Not that he minded all that much; he figured it was important to reflect on things on his own time instead of just baring them to another person.

\---

Nico had been staring out the large, circular window for some time before he found himself moving towards the mahogany window seat just below, complete with black pillows he had once thought were the coolest thing since sliced bread.

He found himself drawn to the stars, staring at them as he pondered. He remembered something his mother had once told him, when they had still lived in Venice and his mother was there to teach him things.

 _"Nico, mio caro, one day we will all be gone from this earth, and God,”_ she had smiled then, _“Well, God will place each one of us into the sky, and that, cucciolo, is where the stars come from.”_

Nico remembered staring out the window of his small little room over the canals, gazing at the stars and making up stories of who they used to be when they were alive. He’d found himself doing much the same thing when he’d received the news that his mother was gone, but this time he was looking for her.

Not being an expert on stars, he didn’t know for sure, but he suspected that one of the brighter ones, one of the ones he hadn’t really noticed before, was his mother. He’d grown out of the idea since then, yet he still found himself searching the sky for the star that might be Bianca. He hadn’t let himself do that since the day she’d died protecting Nico from someone with a vendetta against their father. Nico and Hades had barely known each other at that point, but a grudge grew between them that had yet to be repaired.

For the first time, Nico scoured the sky in it’s dark, ever shifting hues, for a star that felt right. It took him awhile, but he found it. It was to the left of Ursa Major, and though it wasn’t very bright it seemed to have a pull.

“Hello, Bianca,” Nico greeted, saying her name out loud for the first time in years. He’d tried to stop thinking about her for a long time.

“I know that you probably can’t hear me, because this is stupid and you’re somewhere else now, not listening to your baby brother rant, but I miss you.” Nico’s voice cracked a little. “I miss you a lot.”

Nico sat in silence on the window seat for several long seconds, contemplating what he could possibly say to a sister who wasn’t even listening.

“Sometimes, Bianca…” Nico hesitated, not wanting to admit it, “I wonder what you think. Of me. Of Will, I guess too. I like to think you’d be okay with it, but then I remember that you spent more time in that horrid Catholic school in Venice than I did, and I’m not so certain. I uh… well, I never got a chance to tell you for certain, but I think you might have known. I hope you knew, because that would mean that you still loved me despite that fact.” Wind past through the wide-open window, fluttering the dark curtains and chilling Nico to the bone. He found he didn’t mind much.

“I like to think that, but it’s more likely you shared Father’s opinion. He liked you better, and I think maybe that’s because you shared opinions with him. Or maybe it’s just that you were always easier to be around than I was. If you were here, would you be supporting what Will and I are doing, or would you be trying to tear us apart until Mother told you otherwise?” Nico could hear his voice rising as he spoke, but he stopped caring. He’d been holding the thoughts in since who knew when, and he needed to get them out, somehow.

“I’m sorry, Bianca. I know you can’t hear me, and if you can, I disturbed your final death or whatever. But… you know… thank you. I miss you, Bianca. You deserved to live.”

Nico sat inhumanly still for several long, strenuous seconds before he shut the window. He stood up, but he didn’t quite make it back to his bed before he felt exhaustion hit him, and he fell asleep right on the hard, unforgiving wood of the window seat.

\---

Monday mornings usually don’t feel like Monday mornings when you don’t have to wake up and go to either school or work. This was something that Nico was extraordinarily grateful for when he turned over and read his clock – 11 AM. It was fairly late for him, though he had slept until 1 PM before. He was not tempted to repeat that incident again, especially with Will in the house.

Just as Nico had expected, when he knocked on Will’s bedroom door, nobody answered. There was a good chance that Will was already awake and doing something productive, as he had a tendency to do which Nico considered quite unfair. Getting up early by choice was some kind of super power, and Nico didn’t possess it.

What was surprising was that when Nico went downstairs, he found Will and Persephone standing side by side as they looked at something on the ground. Persephone hadn’t been kidding when she had said that she was very particular about her garden, so it was some sort of a miracle to see Will out there with her.

The first thing that Nico noticed when he stepped out of the house for the first time that day was the fact that it was unusually warm. He was used to chillier Thanksgiving, often with either rain or snow, a welcome distraction from whatever was going on in the house. The sun, shining infernally bright directly overhead, presented an unforeseen obstacle. Yet it also meant that Nico and Will wouldn’t have to spend all of their time inside. The sun was both a blessing and a curse.

“Morning Nico!” Will called from across the yard. Persephone said nothing, but she seemed a lot less cold towards them than she’d been the night before. Will had worked some of his magic, then. Powerful stuff.

“Morning Will!” Nico called back, them, out of politeness, “Good morning, Persephone.”

Persephone merely scoffed, but she didn’t object as Nico came closer and closer to the garden box they were crouching over. It was full of fall plants, surprisingly striking against the plain brown of the soil. Nico never put much stock in plants unless they were the kind that bloomed in early spring. Seeing trees covered in tiny flowers on every inch was quite therapeutic.

“It looks nice,” Nico managed, sounding as interested as he possibly could. He couldn’t deny that it was pretty, yes, but part of him wanted there to be a point behind it. So many things were entirely pointless which, if they’re for the sake of beauty, make sense on some levels, but on others it just seemed flat out bizarre. Yet if it made Will’s stay more enjoyable then Nico wasn’t going to complain.

Persephone pursed her lips and looked down at the two of them in perhaps the haughtiest manner Nico had ever seen. She seemed almost ashamed of them, Nico in particular.

“di Angelo,” the way Persephone said the name was laced with poison. “Why don’t you and your uh… _friend,_ go out for today. We don’t really need you around for this morning or this afternoon. Though you _will_ help cook dinner, and your friend _will_ do something else.” She gave them the side eye before turning away and tending to another garden box.

“Where do you recommend we go?” Nico asked in the same sickly sweet tone she had used on them. It drew a visible reaction from Persephone, which Nico flat out relished.

“Wherever you want, as long as it’s not too far away and Hades can find you.”

Nico nodded, and Will watched him expectantly. There was going to be some adventure today, and Nico was going to lead Will through it. Or, better yet, they’d find their way through it together.

\---

“We can probably leave town borders,” Nico suggested, musing over a large paper map he had spread out between Will and himself. Yes, a paper map, because cell service was not great anywhere in the small town.

“Is there anything cool nearby?”

“Do you ski?” Nico questioned, but Will shook his head.

“I surf and wakeboard and other water sports. Snow sports aren’t really my thing, you know?” Will explained, then shrugged. Nico turned to look at Will for the moment, admiring his sun-tanned skin and well-muscled body not for the first time. Will had chosen to wear a tank top on that particular day which was horribly distracting.

“Well, we can’t find much of that here,” Nico admitted. “There might be some indoor skydiving if the place opened back up,” he suggested with a smile. Will just shook his head.

“Can’t do heights, sorry,” Will confided, something which Nico very clearly did not understand well. He was, after all, fairly used to heights, living at the top of a ski resort and all. Sometimes he would ride the gondolas to the top of hills just for fun.

“Well then… I’m not really certain,” Nico admitted.

“Hey um… is there a library or something else?” Will sounded kind of worried as he asked, but in Nico’s mind he didn’t have any need to be.

“There’s this stupid little museum not far from the edge. We can kill some time there, if you’d like. It’s only interesting if you like to hear the history of crappy places that don’t deserve an entire museum dedicated to them.” He tried to make it sound like he hated the place, but in all honesty he loved to spend time at the little museum. It was a guilty pleasure, if you will.

“Well don’t sound so excited about it,” Will replied. Nico felt a little bit of color go into his cheeks. He really wanted Will to like the museum, but if Nico got too excited about it then Will’s expectations would be too high.

"Shut up,” Nico replied, turning away so that Will couldn’t see he was blushing. “Just follow me, okay Solace?”

\---

The museum really wasn’t much, especially from the outside. It was an old, worn-down building that looked like it needed money for repairs. It was also just in the middle of nowhere, with nothing convenient nearby. It was no wonder that Nico and Will were the only ones there besides the two employees.

A sign hung from two pegs above the window: “Welcome.”

“We can go somewhere else, if you want,” Nico stared at the ground, not wanting to look up to see the disappointment on Will’s face. He just assumed it would be there – it was only natural, after all. The museum seemed like kind of a letdown, and it had been Nico’s idea, so…

“I want to go in.” Will’s announcement surprised Nico enough that he jolted upwards and glanced at Will like he’d just said something about flying elephants.

“Then lets go in,” Nico agreed, glancing once more at the dilapidated building, with its moss and vine covered brick, and old door covered in peeling white paint.

The inside wasn’t all that much better than the outside. It was cleaned up a little bit, sure, but it wasn’t much to look at. It was maybe four rooms in total, each one filled with a different era of history within the area. A pitiful little sign right next to the lobby advertised a fun activity for kids: find all 64 lizards hidden within the museum!

“Hey,” Will beamed, gesturing Nico over to the sign. Nico already knew where all of them were, but that didn’t mean he was going to stop Will’s fun. It just meant he could playfully tease Will a little bit more.

“Let’s do it. Or… you’ll do it and I’ll laugh when you can’t find the ones that are in plain sight.”

“Is that a challenge, di Angelo?”

“You bet it is, Solace.” Nico’s smile was purely competitive. “Oh, wait,” he added sarcastically, “I already know where they all are. But I bet you can’t find all 64 in an hour!”

“Oh it’s on.”

\---

The next hour was perhaps the best experience of Nico’s life. Will was incredibly determined to find every single lizard, but Nico had been right – Will had proven entirely inept at finding the ones right in front of him.

Nico teased him relentlessly for it, but the more he did so the more uneasy he felt. He told himself that even if they weren’t with Hades and Persephone, the more they did things like that there would be rumors, and those rumors would reach Hades and Persephone.

“Thirty more and 20 minutes!” Nico announced gleefully, crossing one leg over the other from where he sat, perched on the bench of a very old piano. Will had missed the very first lizard, way back in the first room, but there was no way Nico was going to tell him that.

“Maybe I’d be done already if you’d stop distracting me,” Will replied, rolling his eyes.

“Maybe that’s exactly why I’m doing it,” Nico shot back with a shit-eating grin.

“You’re insufferable.” Will’s voice was entirely monotone, and for a minute Nico thought he was being serious.

“You’re welcome.” The response came only after Nico was certain that Will wasn’t angry with him. There was a kind of relief that came with knowing that friendly teasing wouldn’t entirely ruin their friendship. He could rest easy with that knowledge.

“Won’t you at least help me find one lizard? I’ve been staring at this exhibit for the past five minutes.”

“There isn’t a lizard in there,” Nico quipped. Will gave him the stink eye. “Fine, there’s one in there.”

“That was all the confirmation I needed, thank you.” Will turned back towards the exhibit once more. The thing was, the museum was so small that every exhibit had at least three to four tiny plastic lizards, with the exception of one, buried in the middle of the museum. Will had gotten lucky – it was the one right next to the one he was looking at.

“Aha! Found it!” Will’s triumphant exclamation vaguely reminded Nico of Cerberus. He gave the same ecstatic bark when something good happened. It was incredibly pure, and it always made Nico fall a little bit more in love with his dog. And, coincidentally, Will.

“Good job, genius. There’s two more in there.” Nico knew it wasn’t nice, but it was cute how Will’s face fell with disappointment and shock, then hardened once more with determination.

“Found another. But where’s the last one? Please, Nico, I’m begging you, just – oh!” It appeared Will had found it, meaning they’d have to move on to the exhibit without any lizards hidden away inside. For this one, Nico could sit back and relax. The situation was probably preferable for some people.

\---

Unfortunately, all adventures must end, and this one drew to a less than auspicious close. Nico and Will needed to go back to Nico’s house for dinner, but it was unclear whether they had to clean or serve. Neither Hades nor Persephone gave them specific directions until after it was already too late.

It didn’t take too long for the two to walk back to Hades’ house, but by the time Nico and Will made it, the sun had already passed the horizon and night had fallen. They were technically later than they had meant to be, but the museum had taken a good chunk of time, and both boys could vouch for that.

“There you are.” It was clear that when Hades answered the door he wasn’t happy. Nico suspected that unhappiness was directed at him, but Hades seemed to even be sending some of his dirty look towards Will. It made Nico mad, but it would be easier to just let it go.

“Yes, we’re sorry if there was a curfew we didn’t know about.”

“Your only curfew is your common sense!” Hades shot back, then sighed deeply. “But if you continue to display such poor common sense, then perhaps there is a need for a curfew.” Nico felt his expression go slack. He didn’t want to have to deal with a curfew, even though he was rarely out late enough for it to matter anyway.

“What time would the curfew be?” Nico asked nervously, glancing over at Will for support. Will was no support at the moment, he seemed to be going through his own version of an interrogation.

“8 or 9, depending on how I feel about the evening and the people I’m with at the time,” was the answer Nico got from Hades, which was a little too vague for his taste. Maybe even more than a little bit.

“Then I’ll have more common sense next time,” Nico agreed. He stepped through the door, Will right behind him. He waited for them to be told where tbey needed to go, but nothing happened and nobody really seemed to know.

“Get to work, then,” Hades suggested, eyeing each of them in return.

“Why does it seem like you’re constantly trying to separate us?” Nico knew his question was impudent, but he was inclined to a bit of impudence at that time of day. It was right before the dinner rush came to many a restaurant, but a few always came to Hades’ home. It was always quite an affair when strangers came into the dynamic of Nico’s childhood home. Not that he ever realized what that meant about Father’s love to Persephone and his love for the government, as well as his love for other people, which he later learns to foster.

“Because we are trying to separate you. Now you go get everything set up for dinner, and you,” Will nodded, “Help Persephone get everything put together for goodness sake! There was an amusingly loud groan from the other side of the wall, where Persephone was surely frowning over the order she put her plants in. It might have seemed ridiculous, but Nico didn’t blame her for it. Gardening seemed to take years of thinking and planting, but never actually doing anything unless the idea comes to you when you’re struck by a sudden burst of inspiration.

Will left. The silence between Hades and Nico grew until it became almost tangible and neither could really look at the other. Nico had promised to help his father with something within the week, but he didn’t have the ability to get it done.

“Get to work then,” Hades instructed, then left Nico in the room all by himself. Had Nico been a little bit more immature, or had he had a plan, he might have decided to wreck the room he was in just to spite Hades and Persephone, but he knew he was going to end up the one cleaning it all up, even if he weren’t caught. That was just nasty, and it wasn’t his fault or his responsibility to pick up after everyone else.

Dinner was relatively easy to set up for. Persephone wasn’t feeling well, so she the only people who were going to be eating at the table where Nico, Will, and Hades. Later, Nico would have to bring Persephone’s meal up for her, but that could certainly wait a while.

Nico finished with plenty of time to spare. He was tempted to go find Will and help him with the chore he’d been assigned, but he was also afraid of being found out. He still wanted to spend the night looking for ways to annoy Persephone and Hades that wouldn’t ruin his life for good.

Nonetheless, it was easy enough for Nico to find Will. It was made even easier by the fact that very few people had a tendency to go where Will was due to a fairly large population of rats. At least everyone just sort of assumed it was rats without really bothering to check.

“You might want to ask Persephone if you can work in a better spot,” Nico suggested, holding his nose against the scent that was so pervasive where they stood.

“She already told me the dangers,” Will shrugged, “I’ll be carefully, but I’m finishing a job and I want it done. Well, I want it done as safely as possible, but that’s what’s going on.”

Silence passed between Nico and Will for several seconds before Will spoke once more.

“I want to paint Persephone’s garden,”

Surprised by the gall Will was showing, Nico took a seat beside him.

“Do you always paint for people you barely know?” It was meant to be a joke question, but Nico wanted to know. It meant that there were people getting paintings from Will that Nico had never seen. Not that he ever really saw anything Will painted. He wanted to though.

“No,” Will replied simply. “I think you forget that I’m not a starving artist or anything. I just picked art back up and I’m not nearly as good as I used to be, I’ll openly admit that.”

“I haven’t really seen you doing much art.”

“Because we were working on a science project together. By the way, are you going to take the advanced class next year? We can improve together if you do.”

“Why though?” Nico questioned, sounding tired.

“I would’ve thought you wanted to…”

“Sorry,” Nico sighed, “I’m a little touchy right now.”

“Oh… sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize, it’s not you, I promise. Gods… that sounds so stupid.”

"Hey, I’ll tell you what. We’re going to prove to Hades and Persephone tomorrow that you’re so much stronger than they give you credit for. How about that, huh?”

“Sure,” Nico replied, only managing to muster up half the excitement he should have been able to. He turned towards Will for a brief moment before turning away and looking around at the room they were in. It hadn’t been habited for a long time, and despite the rats, it was quite a good place to foster plant life. Nico admired Will’s ability to just be in there with the risk of rats being in and around him. Nico wouldn’t have enjoyed that much.

“Dinner’s already probably over, huh?” Will’s question broke Nico oout of his reverie.

“Yeah. They eat early. I had to clean up their dishes. They left a little for us if we want it. I’m not hungry though, so you can have it all.” Nico knew he sounded distracted. It wasn’t really his fault. He was tired and drained, and there was so much to look at around them in the small yet surprisingly comfortable room.

“You sure about that?” Will had stood up and was beginning to wash the dirt off his hands at a forgotten sink in the corner of the room. It still worked, miraculously.

"Yeah,” Nico forced a smile, just for a second. “I think I’m going to head up to my room. I’ll see you tomorrow Will, okay?”

“Alright, Nico… if you’re certain.”

“Goodnight, Solace.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Sorry it's taken me so long to update, I've been dealing with a lot of stuff irl. Thanks for sticking with me though!


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